


Not Alone

by CoopPenny



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Orphan!Peter, Peter is like 16 years old here, Peter is still young, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Spoilers, after the Amazing Spider-Man 2, mute character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-06-05 03:44:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 36,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6687865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoopPenny/pseuds/CoopPenny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter was crushed after what happened with Gwen. It was never supposed to end that way. But as Peter carries on with his life, he finds that fait is a bitch and is far from done with him. He learns the hard way that Spider-Man may have amazing abilities but that does not mean that he can save everyone.</p>
<p>(I'm seriously bad at summaries, so just read and find out for yourself)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bang...

**Author's Note:**

> The Avengers will come into this story but not yet. This is Peter's life in this chapter and sad things will happen so keep a box of tissues with you at all times (just in case)
> 
> In case your wondering, Peter will be aged at 16 in this story and the events of both the Amazing Spider-man films will be included in this so it's like major spoilers in here if you haven't seen them.
> 
> So enjoy!!

_"I'll see you at my place then?"_

 

Peter read the text over and over. He knew he was torturing himself but he couldn't help it. He just couldn't let it go. He had this horrible and dead feeling that if he did let go, he'd forget. And he never wanted to forget. Her long silky blond hair, big sparkling blue eyes, Constant curl to her soft pink lips whenever she turned around to speak to him. She was so beautiful and he never wanted to forget.

He'd been back as Spider-Man for a couple of months now. He'd come to terms with what he had let happen and that she was never coming back to him.

He had been a mess in the first couple of months of Gwen's death. His guilt riddled mind never allowed him to eat a full meal and his nights were plagued with wide scared eyes and an unmoving and chilling body in his arms jolting him awake in the small hours of the day and unable to close his eyes again. He didn't once go out as Spider-Man. He felt like a failure, like he didn't deserve to be called a hero anymore, he felt like the word was taunting him; trying to break him.

Peter soon snapped out of his spiral of depression as he listened to the news that morning and to his Aunt May's words. He had a responsibility to with hold and bare. He knew he couldn't protect everyone but he could damn well try. He went out as Spider-Man with a new purpose and that was dedicated to his Aunt. He wanted to make it as safe as he possibly could so that May could walk the streets with ease in her old age instead of looking over her shoulder all the time.

Peter would go out as much as he possibly could but with all his school studies and such interfering with his alter ego, it wasn't that often. But he had to endure if he wanted to get that internship at Stark Industries, and boy, was he hoping. He'd rome the streets mostly at night to protect the innocent from the greedy and selfish that festered in the darkness of the allies (Okay, so maybe that was a little bit over reactive but all in all, it's just people plotting to do bad things).

The almost nightly vendetta happened in all seasons and all year in his signature costume which was just a spandex so it was no surprise that in the middle of February, he had caught the flu (seriously, running around New York, in the cold rain, in just one layer of clothing that got soaked through within minutes. What else did he expect!). The illness handicapped Peter's powers temporarily, leaving his Spidey sense to blow it's alarms 10 seconds too late.

"Peter, Honey. Don't make yourself go to school if your too ill." May said softly as she steadied his swaying with a hand on the shoulder.

Eyes droopy and so blurry that he could hardly see a thing, Peter slurred "T'anks Aun' 'ay" he tried to give her a reassuring smile but it may have came out a bit scary, "Jus' nee' s'me s'eep."

Without farther ado, he shuffled back up to his room and buried himself in the cluster of blankets. He was asleep within seconds.

When Peter awoke, he was feeling considerably better (meaning: less of a headache and no double vision) so he decided to grace his most likely worried Aunt with his presence. Clumsily, he climbed down the stairs to meet his Aunt in the kitchen with a pot on the stove that smelled so unbelievably delicious that it made his mouth water.

"Hi, Aunt May." His speech massively improved since that morning but still a bit gritty. He glanced to the table to see a couple of plastic bags ready for a shopping trip and when he looked out the window he noticed that it was impeccably dark out. "Where you off to?"

May turned around to see her Nephew who had flushed cheeks and dark circles around his eyes. She turned back to the pot to continue her string. "Hi, Peter. Go back to bed sweetie, you look tired. I was just about to give you some soup." she said softly, Peter took note on the question dodging but decided to let it slide (for now).

"i'm fine and I feel better already." Peter protested only to sneeze loud enough that May gave Peter a sarcastic 'yeah right' look. Peter ignored the look and quickly changed topic before he could prove himself wrong again, "Did you make the soup?"

May gave a faint smile as she replied, "Yes. It's vegetable soup." Peter instantly perked up at the mention of his favourite soup.

He quickly made his way towards the round and worn table and hastily sat down, eyes trained on the bubbling liquid the sat over the controlled flames. He licked his lips as he remembered the times that his Aunt had made the soup. She didn't make it often, only when someone was ill. May also had this thing about if you have constant access to something, you stop seeing it as something to be cherished. She and Ben always shared wise words, some went deeper and had more meaning than others but that were all important in some way. With her first homemade vegetable soup, he had learnt that lesson and he still remembered it today.

The bowl of heaven (and one of May's best dishes in Peter's opinion) was placed in front of him with a spoon to go with it and he gratefully started shoving in spoon-fulls of the divine substance. He loved it so much that if anyone were to accuse him of having an intimate relationship with this bowl of soup, he wouldn't deny it. In the corner of his eye, Peter could see May smiling at him fondly and shaking her head as she put the used pot in the sink for later washing- Peter made note that he would do that for her.

"So," he said between mouthfuls of steaming soup, "Where you off to?"

May looked like she was about to deny his accusation until he gave her the same look she gave him not two minutes ago and sighed, defeat practically radiated from her body language. "I was just going to go shopping. We need to restock some things in the fridge."

Glancing out the window again, Peter saw the lurking darkness that stretched as far as the eye could see and he shivered at the thought of May being out there on her own. He looked back at May with his brows furrowed as he said, "let me get a coat and we can head off." He made a move to get up from he table and head to the living room where he knew his discarded coat would be but May stopped him.

"Peter," She said in her scorning voice "You are far too ill and I don't want you getting worse."

"And I don't want you alone in the dark." he pressed, "Lets compromise."

May raised one eye brow at him.

"If you let me go with you to the shops and help carry the bags, I'll take that disgusting stuff that people have the guts to call medicine." he gave a small shudder at the mere thought of it.

Putting a hand to her face and looking up, she contemplated his deal before she gave another defeated sigh. She waggled her finger at him as she said "You better take that medicine when we get back."

Peter would have leapt for joy if he wasn't so sure that he'd fall flat on his face from such a fast movement. He grabbed his coat as May grabbed her trusty plastic bag that had a picture of an elephant on the side of it (because why not?).

Soon they were both out the door, arm in arm as they tackled the cold air of a mid February evening. May was already making a mental note of all the ingredients they had to get and Peter was already dreading the horrible taste of cough medicine that somehow stayed with your taste buds for hours.

 

\----------

 

Peter learned a very valuable lesson... Puppy dog eyes become increasingly harder to perform when you get older. But the good thing was that he still get those cookies he saw on the shelf so it's a win for him.

They had both got to the store with relatively no problems. They had gotten there as fast as they could while Peter's hard eyes scanned over the dark corners and constantly checked behind them just to make sure there were no potential threats. With Peter's sense for danger out of commission, he had to rely on his eyes to catch any movements from the shadows.

Shopping complete with the exception of brussels sprouts because Peter said that he was convinced that everything the mimi cabbages touched, becomes tasteless and gross and would ruin all of their food. May rolled her eyes but she thankfully put the bag on the shelf again. Seriously, Who on Earth ate sprouts anymore?! Or, better yet, who the hell even _wanted_ to?! Anyway, with the shopping all accounted for, they decided to head back home to pack away their goods (Peter would probably sneak out the cookies and hide them in his room).

As they started to get closer to home, Peter let some of the pent up and overly protective energy leave his body. He instantly winced at the the dull pain in his head that made him think his head was not a head but a block of cement... Even his thoughts were becoming weird and unintelligible. But he shook it off (not literally or he might collapse from dizziness) and carried on.

Continuing down a narrow ally, as May thought it was the most fastest way home and Peter had no energy to argue against it. They travelled or in Peters case dragged his feet to the middle of the ally before a blaring alarm sounded, cutting through the illness endured mist that was his brain and jumped at least 5 foot in the air. It took a couple of seconds for Peter to actually realise that the sound was coming from the building next to them. Them... He quickly looked to his Aunt who had a hand on her chest and was taking in steady gulps of air meaning that she had been startled as much as he was.

Peter knew he couldn't do anything to help, not in his position with an illness and no suit to protect his identity. But what he could do was get May to a safe place before anything serious could develop.

"Aunt May--"

He was cut off by a deafening sound that filled the ally and chilled him to the bone as it bounced off the walls in an echo and rang in his ears. His eyes were wide with fear as he placed what the sound was. It was the sound of death and destruction, it was the sound of a gun.

His gaze focused back to his Aunt, hoping to find evidence of her well being but was faced with the complete opposite. Her face was one of sudden shock and pain as her hands gripped her chest. Peter could feel the blood drain from his face as he looked at his Aunts chest; he felt physically sick. Red liquid was oozing out of the wound in a rapid flow, ruining her shirt and leaking between her frail fingers that tried to prevent the life support from escaping her body. It was a futile attempt as the blood slipped to the floor, covering it like red paint. Then, she started to fall.

The movement of his Aunt snapped Peter back into action as he lunged forward in an attempt to catch her. For a second their eyes met and he could tell that by the look she gave him, she was saying goodbye. A burning sensation took place behind his eyes but he didn't have time to rebel against fait and save his Aunt before the gun sounded again. White blinding pain shot up from his neck. His hands flew up to the pain only to be completely smothered in a thick liquid that seemed to be all over the front of his clothes. He was barely aware of falling to the floor as his head hit the pavement with an audible thump; the pain in his neck overriding anything else that would have hurt.

The world was a fiery pit of pain, emotional and physical making his other senses dull as he became vaguely aware of his blood gathering in a small pool around his head and someone stepping over his body as if he was just a minor bump in the road that was being run over and ignored. His body spasmed and jerked as he tried to force oxygen pass the blood that was blocking his air ways.

Feeling a merciful darkness start to take over, Peter gave one last look at his Aunt only to find a heart wrenching sight. His Aunt was lying face down on the floor. Dead. Her glazed over and unseeing eyes facing in his general direction and her face an unnatural sight of blankness. She was dead.

As his mind started to shut down, his last thought was that he didn't even get to sneak a cookie, before his eyes rolled back and the world become one of darkness.

 


	2. What about me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this by the way, it means a lot!  
> This chapter is all info so I hope your okay with that.  
> Without further ado, ENJOY!!!

Pain.

That was his first awareness upon waking up. Pain.

It seemed to radiate from every inch of his body. His muscles ached, his head throbbed with a sharp pain and the glare of the light beyond his shielded eyes were burning, he would have groaned long and loud if it wasn't for his throat screaming it's agony at him the whole time and showed no sign of stopping soon.

There's a noise. A constant, never ending noise that came in a steady flow of beeps. He was not proud to say that it took him a while to figure out what the beeping noise meant. He was in a hospital and he was hooked up to a heart monitor and there were most likely IV drips to the side of him. Why the hell was he in a hospital?

His brain was running rapidly as it tried to gather his tattered and messed up thoughts and memories of how he got here and why he was in so much pain.

Like a ton of bricks, it hit him. The beeping got more rapid but he hardly noticed as he recalled _everything_. The shopping. The gun fire. The blood. Oh God, the blood. The blood was  everywhere. All over him... all over her...

He had to find his Aunt. He had to know that she was okay. That she survived. That he was not alone. He couldn't trust the memory of too much blood and an empty gaze, for all he knew he was delusional at the time with withering pain.

Peeling his eyes open, Peter practically hissed at the offending light that blurred his vision for a second and made his eyes water.

How the hell did he even survive? There's no way he should have lived. He remembers being shot in the neck, he remembers all of his blood on his hands and he remembered slipping into darkness and what he thought was death. He shouldn't have survived that. He would have lost too much blood. He should have died...

With trembling hands, Peter decided to feel for himself. Sensitive finger tips met the layers of soft bandages wrapped around his neck and secured at the edges with medical tape. Picking at the edges of the tape, Peter was about to pull it off and examine the bullet wound in his neck when the door burst open to reveal a nurse. She looked panicked for a split second as she assessed the situation, after she deemed everything was okay, her face turned stoic.

"The Doctor will be with you in a moment and I advise you to leave the bandages alone Mr.Parker." her voice was professionally polite.

Peter only nodded, not willing to aggravate his throat anymore than it already was.

As the nurse had said, he Doctor walked in, his white coat swishing behind him as his eyes quickly scanned over the clip board he was holding. When he finally looked up, Peter could tell that he was tired as shadows hung below his dull blue eyes. This guy has had a long day and the way he looked at Peter, pity shining bright, he knew he wasn't going to like what the Doctor said one bit.

"Mr.Peter Parker, my name is Dr.Shane and I will be taking care of you during your stay. How do you feel, may I ask? I only want you to nod or shake your head. Talking will only hurt more." The Doctor said softly, making sure the Peter was following his words and not off to make belief Disney land with weird colours and stuff. Peter nodded at the Doctors question. "Do you know what happened?" he nodded "Are you comfortable? No nausea or dizziness?" he shook his head "Okay, I'm going to tell you the list of injuries. Can you handle that?"

Peter hesitated for only slit second. Can he handle that? He didn't know if he could. With everything that has happened to him, could he handle more? Peter then gave a stiff nod. He may not like what he hears but he needs to know. "You were shot in the neck but luckily it was only a flesh wound so there is nothing life threatening to worry about. You lost a lot of blood but not so much that we needed to give you a blood transfusion."

Peter frowned at that. That wasn't right... If he was bleeding heavily through his neck, then he would surely need a blood transfusion no matter what. It didn't matter if the patient could survive without the transfusion, they would have done it to ensure the patients safety. They wouldn't have taken that kind of chance with a life would they?

"However, The bullet passed through in such a way that it completely shattered your vocal cords..." Peter could feel the blood drain from his face at the Doctor's words. "I'm sorry but the surgeons did all they could and they just couldn't save it..." Peter gave a shaky nod, his eyes wide and looking at nothing. He wasn't going to cry. "You also hit your head and that required 4 stitches but other than that there was no further harm to your head. There may be a few bruises to the rest of your body but other than that your healthy and can be discharged once your throat has fully healed."

The Doctor hesitated which caused Peter to focus his attention again. What he saw made dread curl around in Peter's stomach. The Doctor was steeling himself; there was worse news to come. "I'm sorry, but your Aunt? May Parker? ...She was shot in the chest and the bullet pierced her lung. She died in a matter of seconds so she wasn't in pain for long. I-I'm so sorry." The Doctor said, he sounded really sincere but Peter was barely listening.

His eyes started to burn and blur with unshed tears that were overflowing with grief. Dead? She couldn't-- She wouldn't leave him alone. Not now. Not before she saw him give her a bigger family. She wanted to see him grow up, fall in love and have a normal life with kids and a wife around him. She said she wanted to him to have that so much. She wanted him to come round with his kids hanging round his legs with a bright smile as he came to visit her. She desperately wanted to see that. She wouldn't go without seeing that.

His hands were trembling fists as the tears finally ran down his face in big pitiful drops. His throat ached as the sob fought it's way out into the open but all that could be heard were the heaving breaths that he took after every sob. But he didn't care. He didn't care anymore. They could see him cry in muted sobs all they wanted because the one person he had left was dead and there was no way to come back form that. He was now alone.

Feeling a warm hand squeeze his shoulder, Peter looked up to see the pitiful eyes of the Doctor, "Do you have anyone we can call? Any other distant or close relatives or friends?"

Looking at the Doctor with a long and suffering gaze, Peter shook his head. No. He had no one. It was just him.

He let his head fall back into his waiting hands as he cried out his grief and sorrow. There really was no one else. He cried and cried and cried. He cried for his parents, for his Aunt and Uncle, for Gwen and officer Stacy. He cried and he morned for what felt like forever until he had no more tears to shed or energy to sob. He became still and his eyes held no emotion other than pain. His body started to make the pain known again and his eye lids felt impossibly heavy.

He was aware of the Doctor leaving and closing the door but it was only background noise as Peter slid into a restless sleep with tear stains still on his cheeks.

 

\----------

 

"--a starter home. I don't need him to be overwhelmed by the new environment he has to live in, the kid's been through too much already.... Okay.... Yeah...." A male voice with a Brooklyn accent cut through Peter's repetitive nightmares. Nightmares filled with failed loved ones and soundless screams. For a second he forgot where he was but the feel of the too squishy to be comfortable mattress reminded him of the nightmare that he was currently living.

"Don't worry," the guy continued talking down the phone (Peter assumed he was talking down the phone due to the one sided conversation), "I wasn't expecting you to. He's probably going to want to bring his own clothes anyway. I can't do it myself. I don't know what he would want to take."

There was a long pause as the person on the other end of the phone began to talk. Peter was straining to hear but was jolted out of his concentration as the guy started to talk in rapid fire, "Now you listen to me Paul, the very reason why this kid's even in this situation is 'cause a bunch of thugs got too trigger happy for their own good. So I think he's gonna be far away from gangs or crime." Peter started to open his eyes, he wanted to get a look at the guy that was apparently defending him. "Look, I gotta go. We'll sort this out later."

There was a shuffling of clothes before the guy spoke in a soft voice that was very different from the one he was using not 5 seconds ago, "Hay... You okay kid?"

Peter pushed himself up so that he was leaning on the pillows and could get a good look at the stranger in his hospital room. The man had dark brown hair that was styled in a messy way, blue eyes that were soft and had a wise touch to them, he had a stubble which added to the messy look that suited him well. His suit's once cutting edge shape was worn down to go with the man's unusually relaxed posture. To sum up: this man practically radiated friendly. Peter even found himself relaxing without his knowing.

Opening his mouth to talk, Peter instantly clamped it shut in the remembrance that he has no voice to speak with. He felt deeply embarrassed by this but the guy just smiled at him and pretended he hadn't seen it. Peter liked this guy.

"The name's Larry Coleman but people call me Cole. I'll be your social worker from now on and I promise, I'm gonna try and find ya the best homes they have to offer. But your gonna have to trust me on this, 'kay?" the guy, Cole, explained.

 Peter eyed the guy warily. It somehow seemed really weird that someone was helping him and wasn't trying to trick him or manipulate him. It felt weird but it felt nice at the same time. Like he really didn't have to do everything by himself. After about half a minute, Peter nodded his head and the guy beamed at him in such a way that it seemed like nothing  could get him down. 

 "Right. So I've got a plan. We're going to get you into a nice home on your own, just you and the Foster parents. It'll give you a few months to adjust before we can move you to a more local home or if you want and if they want to as well, you can stay on with the couple for as long as you like. But first, after your discharged, we're gonna have ta go to your Aunt's house and get some stuff you need. It's completely up to you if you if you want me to accompany you or if you wanna go there on your own but after that we'll be going to the foster home. Then all I need to do is notify your school and then it's all cool from there. How's that sound?"

Peter nodded at the man, finding it hard to keep up with how fast the guy could talk. He ignored the pang of grief and guilt at the mention of his Aunt and the thought of going home without her.

He didn't think he could do this. With no anchor, he felt like he could loose it at any moment.

Right now he had too much to deal with so he needed to take a load off... Somehow...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay!! I finished!  
> I'll update soon! Promise!


	3. They Stare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coulson will be here!! Finally I gotten to the Avengers bit of the story!  
> Thank you for commenting and stuff, it got me the motivation that I needed!  
> So, ENJOY!!

Peter sighed. Exhaustion hanging heavily on his shoulders as he made his way to his foster house. His neck was starting to tingle with pain but he ignored it as he thought over the emotionally draining week he had. So much had changed but he had grown numb to them, trying to ignore the hollow feeling.

It started with being discharged from the hospital and a nagging feeling of betrayal and abandonment as he walked through the automatic doors but he did his best to burry the feeling.

Cole had kept his word as he drove Peter to the house he used to live in. He couldn't call it his home anymore, it didn't feel like home without his Aunt waiting to greet him with a smile and a 'how was your day?'. Everything felt wrong. Foreign.

The old creaky porch and dented door seemed to welcome him but looking at the house made it feel like an empty shell with memories of people once belonging there. The empty feeling seemed to grow.

As he made his way towards the front door, he grew paranoid and aware of the neighbours that started to whisper to each other and sending pitiful looks his way. He felt judged. Judged for his failure, his muteness, his loneliness... Wanting to escape the eyes of many, Peter hastily stepped inside the house and shut the door. He turned around, only to freeze on the spot.

The sight of the dead home, frozen in it's last moments. The couch was worn and cushions were bent to the shape the person last used them. The dining room was the worst. The bowl of his favourite soup was left on the uncovered table, long since gone cold and the surface scabbed over. It was the last thing May made...

The last...

Peter glared at the bowl of cold soup as if it was to blame for his twisted fait. Angry tears blurred his vision but he quickly wiped them away from existence. He felt like breaking something. He wanted to hurt someone. He wanted to kill someone.

Then, all of his thoughts stopped and he fell to his knees, tears flowing freely as he screamed at the house in silent yells and sobs, trying desperately to be heard but knowing no one would ever come. Would ever hear him. He let himself curl in on himself as he tried to ask for his Aunt back but as expected no words could be heard and no one came. He left so alone, so lost. He couldn't imagine a life without his Aunt to steer him in the right direction. The sheer shock ripped through him at the wanting to take a life and him having the capability to do so, scared him to no end. He had never felt this afraid of himself. Never.

He laid on the floor for a couple of minutes, waiting for his tremors to pass and his mind to be calm. He cried until he couldn't anymore and he silently sobbed until his lungs ached with lack of oxygen. When he finally peeled himself off the floor, his chest hurt, his eyes felt puffy and his body felt like it had been repeatably punched and kicked. Feeling dead to the world, Peter dragged his feet up the stairs, uncaring that he stumbled every two seconds.

Finally making it to his door, Peter tentatively pushed his door open. It squeaked in welcome as it presented the hollow darkness the his room was immersed in.

He sighed as he entered his domain for the last time. He couldn't stay here for long though. If he did, he wasn't sure he'd be able to leave on his own so he quickly went to work. Picking up his duffle bag, he started to shove the items of his room in, he knew he couldn't bring everything so he suck with the essential items. When he opened his closet, he paused, he gave the cardboard box tucked in the corner a long, hard stare. Should he bring it?

He opened it and took out the mask, it's white lenses staring back at him. All he could think about was how big the urge to kill was a few minutes ago. How could he be a hero if he was lost? How could he help the people if he needed help as well? Decision made, Peter packed his suit at the bottom of his bag. He wouldn't be Spider-Man anymore. Not until he was ready and his emotions didn't get in the way. But right now, he needed to stop and he needed a break. He'd only go out in an emergency like world danger and stuff. 

He grabbed his skate-board and camera, slung his bag over his shoulder and swiped the photo album that was in the living room, the one with his parents, Ben and May. He left the house without a second glance, as a fear of crying again. He ignored the stares and got in the car. He wiped his face for good measure as Cole pulled the car away from the house.

It wasn't a long drive to his foster house. It was near his school so he didn't have to change schools (he didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing) and the couple seemed really nice as they smiled and greeted him and Cole in a respectful manner.

It was only when Cole was gone that the atmosphere began to shift.

He was stated at the table with his foster parents facing him and it felt like they were staring him down. Peter shifted in his seat uncomfortably at the scrutinising glares they were both giving him.

"We'd like to put some rules on the table before you get settled in." the foster father, introduced as Len said, "We'd like you to be home at a certain curfew, 5 o'clock should do it. We have meals at 6am, 12pm and 6pm, if you miss those times, you won't be getting any food, understood?"

Peter nodded and Len carried on, "You will do the house work that we tell you to do, we don't care if you've got something else planned, we tell you, you do it. You earn your food and keep here."

Peter nodded again, a slight frown on his face, he took note that he said 'tell' instead of 'ask'. With a sinking feeling in his gut, Peter knew that he was going to hate here.

"You will not bring any friends round here, I've got one brat so I don't need another. And finally, there will be no gangs or crime in our home, when you are here, you will be in your room and you will stay there until we tell you otherwise."

Then they stood up together, staring at him expectantly.

Getting the message, Peter picked up his bags and went to his room. The room was small and and could barely fit a bed but with this couple, Peter was happy to get a bed. He was going to spend a lot of time here and he'd do it willingly if it meant he'd get away from the control freaks. He'd only been here for a half hour and he hated it here already. He didn't like the couple and it sounded like they wanted to use him as a maid than to actually take care of him.

He skipped dinner that night, too sick of the couple to face them again.

He fell into a restless sleep dreaming of his family and their deaths one by one...

It was back to school the next day and Peter had to force himself to get up at 6am to have some food. He was then told to clean the dishes and put them away to 'earn his keep' while his foster parents sat on their sofa and watched TV.

Peter left a half hour later, dressed and ready for school, books ready and skate-board in hand. He was half way to school before a sickening realisation dawned on him.

How was he supposed to communicate?

He didn't have a voice. He couldn't talk. How was he going to answer questions? How was he going to ask for his lunch? How was he going to get through the day without anyone raising questions at his scar or quietness.

He felt his blood run cold at the thought of the mangled flesh on his neck. Quickly, he bunched his hoodie around his throat to hide it as much as possible. Peter was near the school entrance now and he was still pulling his hair at the communications problem. 

Students were walking around, having a casual day but Peter felt like he was being stared at by all of them. Judging eyes and whispering voices.

Finally walking into school after an absence of around three weeks, Peter made a bee line to his locker, meandering though the crowd like a pro with his head down and his bag strap held in a white knuckled grip. Breathing a sigh of relief when he made it to his locker, Peter took out his lined paper booklet. That gave him pause, he was considering the lined paper when a booming voice made it over to him.

"Hey, PARKER!!"

Peter decided that the universe must hate him as he saw Flash, backed up by his friends, swaggering in the corridors making his way over to him. Hastily, Peter stuffed his lined paper into his bag and closed his locker. When he turned around again, Flash was in front of him grinning like a kid in a toy store.

"Where you been Parker?"

The only thing Peter did was try to move past the hulking idiot and get to class. But he was stopped as Flash pulled his hoodie ruffly so his back hit the lockers behind him. They all started laughing at him before their laughing cut off. Peter was confused for a second but, to his horror, he released that his hood had fell away from his neck to reveal the raw scar.

looking up, Peter was met with the sick and confused faces of Flash and his friends as well as the people that had gathered around them.

Glaring at Flash, Peter bunched his hoodie around his neck again and shoved past him. Flash did nothing to stop him as he stared guiltily at the place Peter once stood. People moved out of his way as they gave him pitiful looks and some asked him what happened to him. Peter didn't do anything as he made his way to class.

He knew that by the end of the day, everyone would know that he had no family and he could no longer speak. Everyone would know.

The rest of the school week had been a disaster. Flash had caught up with him and apologised but the only thing Peter could do was nod and walk away. People stared at him fixated on his neck, they came up to him and gave him a pat on the shoulder, random girls ran up to him and told him that it was okay and that he should stay strong. The teachers that didn't know about his condition finally understood when he pulled out his lined paper and started to write them an explanation.

He was just glad he had a two day break (or he'd try to with all the class work he had to catch up on and the chores that his foster parents would inevitably make him do).

He just about made it to his house at the 5 o'clock curfew when Len bellowed his name (Peter swore that the house shook whenever he did that). Making his way towards the sound, Peter entered the living room and was faced with his foster parents on the couch facing a man in a clean cut suit on the other couch with a coffee in hand.

Giving his foster parents a quizzical look, Len finally spoke up, "This is Mr. Coulson, he's from the Foster agency. He wishes to speak with you."

The man, Coulson, gave a small smile.

Assessing the man, Peter found that his clothes were impeccably neat and he had a pair of shades in his upper pocket. Peter could tell that this guy hid a lot of muscle under his suit and could probably take care of himself in a fight. His eyes were blank as they showed no emotions to anyone, a kind of neutral expression took over his face and never slipped.

As the guy leaned forward to put the coffee on the table, Peter's blood ran cold. On the guys right side, under the grey jacket, Peter could make out a slight bulk of a gun. On instinct, Peter swiftly placed himself in front of his foster parents and faced the guy with a determined glare.

To his surprise, Coulson let a small smile tug at the corner of his mouth but Peter didn't falter.

Coulson spoke in a cool and patient tone to his foster parents, "Do you mind if me and Peter have a word in private?"

The couple nodded and obediently left the room leaving Peter with muscles tense and ready to spring into action in a split second.

"You can ease yourself, Mr.Parker, I'm not here to harm you." he spoke in the same smooth voice.

Peter glared at him, eyes darting to the hidden gun he knew was there. Coulson smirked at Peter's instance and took out his hand gun. At Peter's even more tense stance, Coulson quickly disassembled the gun and placed each part on the coffee table in front of him. He then lifted his suit jacket up and turned around slowly, showing Peter that he had no more weapons.

Nodding his approval, Peter took his pen and paper out of his bag and wrote, "Who are you and what do you want?" and showed the man.

"My name is Agent Coulson and I'm with the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Devision, SHIELD for short." The man explained, "I'm here to offer a position to you, Spider-Man."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... what do you think? *suggestive eyebrows*  
> More updates soon! Promise!


	4. Broken Homes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I haven't updated in a while but here's the new chapter!!  
> This chapter involves the Avengers!! YES! I finally got there!!  
> This is post Avengers, Post Winter Soldier but SHIELD is still up and running, Pre Iron Man 3 and pre Avengers: Age of Ultron.  
> I know, I'm really picky...   
> Anyway.... ENJOY!!!!

Fighting could be heard down the gym hall of Avengers tower. Well, it was more like crashing and whining sounds.

When Steve entered the gym area, he found Natasha staring at Tony, a mask of complete boredom as Tony laid there whining about his arms and his shoulders and his legs and his back and his everything. Steve couldn't help but chuckle at the man-child he had come to adore.

"Cap..." Tony groaned upon seeing his entry, "Help me... Nat is attempting to kill me..."

Steve looks to Natasha with a slightly raised eyebrow and saw the small glint in her eyes, clearly amused by her teammate.

"If I was trying to kill you, you'd be dead by now." She stated coolly.

"But you didn't!!!" Tony proclaimed, suddenly sitting up with one finger in the air. "Is this love Romanov? Is this you showing your love for me?"

His devil shark smirk was replaced with wide and far-too-innocent-it-was-clearly-fake eyes.

Natasha rolled her eyes at the fake display of innocence and said in a deadpanned voice "The only person who could love that is a mother." and proceeded to step out of the ring.

Scrambling to his feet while pointing an accusing finger at her, Tony declared, "I've had a truck load of fan mail sent to me so obviously that accusation is false!"

Again Natasha rolled her eyes with a barely suppressed smirk on her face.

Steve watched it all with a fond smile in place, "Alright. Are you done here? Because we've got Directer Fury on the line and he wants to talk to all of us. No exceptions." Steve adds upon seeing the genius about to retort and get out of the meeting.

Said genius pouts at the thought of being deprived of his sceienceing hours yet again for the second time in one day. He could already feel his mind buzzing at the possibility of invisible arrows for Clint. The enemy would never see it coming...

The trio, one of them purposefully dragging their feet (*cough cough* Tony), made it to the common area which already occupied the rest of the team. Clint was sitting on the kitchen counter about to take a drink from his glass of fresh orange juice, when Natasha promptly snags it out of his grasp and walks farther into the common area while taking a swing of it, Clint's outraged yell completely ignored. Bruce was sitting on the sofa with a tablet in his hands and tapping it wildly, most likely correcting algorithms and math. Sam Wilson just looked out of place with his soldier stance in front of the loading screen while everyone else was relaxed. Thor was currently off world to see to his brother's punishment. No one could really say anything to that.

Everyone got settled down and started to pay attention to the huge screen on the wall that was now a picture of an unimpressed face of one Nick Fury. Well, everyone was paying attention except Clint, who was giving Natasha and his glass of orange juice side long glances, and Tony, who didn't really pay attention to Fury's rants anyway so there was really no problem.

"Is there a new mission, Director?" Steve asked after giving Tony a scorning look which did absolutely nothing to the geniuses attitude.

"No" he said plainly, "I'm only calling to inform you that a new hero could be staying with you."

Tony's ears perked up at that and put his full focus on Fury for once.

"Have any of you heard of Spider-Man?" he asked, knowing full well that they had all heard of the web slinging vigilante.

"Oh my god. We're going to have the mysterious, spider themed hero living with us!" Tony practically squealed, "You know, he's really hard to get ahold of." he said, voice distant when he turned a suspicious gaze to Fury, "How'd you do it Fury?"

Fury glared right back at Tony, clearly unimpressed with the genius' tone.

"He's not staying with you to be on the team. He's needs shelter and a place to rest. He's lost everything in these past few days and he just needs a place to recover and not somewhere where he has to be permanently on guard."

Steve frowned at that, "What do you mean 'he's lost everything'?"

Something close to guilt crossed Fury's face before it was gone and his steel gaze remained strong, "You'll find out when you meet him." and with that the screen cut off and went blank.

"Right," Tony smacked his hands down on the sofa and got up to his feet. "I've got work to do, and a new room to design. Do you really think Spider-Man's favourite colour is red and blue?" he asked no one in particular.

Tony waved them off before they could even think about giving an answer and was off to the confines of his lab.

Sam was the first to react as he groaned loud and long-suffering into his hands, "I heard that Spider-Man has a mouth on him. How'd you think that'd work with our resident genius and birdbrain?"

"Hey!" Clint yelled, "You can't say that! your code name is Falcon!"

Sam stared at Clint for a couple of seconds before he face-palmed and mumbled "I rest my case." before heading for the elevator, his brain obviously taking too much of a beating from the childish adults surrounding him.

The rest of the team stared at the spot where Sam had disappeared for a couple of seconds before Clint said, "Sooo, Chinese takeout tonight?" the rest mumbled in agreement and went to the kitchen area.

 

\----------

 

Peter didn't know why everything kept on changing in his life but he'd really appreciate it if it would just stop.

Everything seemed to be going from pear-shaped to a completely destroyed basket of fruit. So, yeah, not a great couple of months.

Peter didn't know how that Agent Coulson guy was so damn persuasive but somehow he did it. Frowning, Peter could only think about how it was probably less persuasion and more manipulation on the Agent's part. Still, the discussion with Agent Coulson ended with him packing his bags and now sitting in some kind of interrogation room.

Yep. An interrogation room. It was all white walls with a security camera, a live feed, in the corner of the room with a blinking red light. He was sitting in a steel chair with a table and another chair opposite him. On the table was a neatly arranged pencil and pad of paper, in a perfect line with exactly 5cm between the two objects. OCD much...

They'd left him in that room for about 15-20 minutes and no one had bothered him since. Peter couldn't help the rush of questions that streamed through his brain, along with the different possibilities: Was this another form of interrogation? Was he there because of Spider-Man or something else? The way the Agent talked to Peter, they seemed to want to help. So did they want to make him do special training which would end up with him in their debt which could lead him to be a forced secret Agent! Was that their plan? Could they be trusted?

Just as the door to his room opened, Peter caught himself gently running a thumb over the pink tissue of his neck. A nervous habit he'd gotten throughout the stressful week. He looked at his guest and stared at the man.

The man in front of him had dark skin with a pirate eye-patch. It seemed that his favourite colour was black as he wore a creepy black trench coat like he was in the movie 'Back to the Future' and had black trousers, shirt, boots and if Peter ever had the misfortune of seeing, he was sure he wore black undies as well. When Peter looked into the man's eye, his insides went cold. He saw that look a lot in his own mirror, it was stress and barely concealed exhaustion. This was a man that had to make a lot of tough decisions in his life and had lived with the consequences, no matter how devastating... much like Peter...

"Peter Parker," The man said in a monotone voice as he read from a brown folder, "16 years of age. Currently a student at Midtown High and records say that you're a straight A student and you could be in college if you choose to be. Parents, Mary and Richard Parker, died in a plane crash on their way out of the country after Richard Parker was accused of treason."

Peter couldn't help but tighten his jaw at the lie, but allowed the man to proceed, "You were orphaned at 5 and went to live with your Aunt and Uncle, May and Benjamin Parker. Then about one and a half years ago, Benjamin Parker was killed in a theft gone wrong... around the same time Spider-Man came to town. Then 8 months ago, Gwen Stacy, died apparently aiding Spider-Man. Spider-Man was not seen or heard of for months afterwards. Then just over three weeks ago, there was another theft gone wrong and your remaining living relative, May Parker, died in seconds. You, however, sustained damage to your vocal cords in your throat and managed to survive with great blood loss and no blood transfusion needed. And now, you are in the Foster system after the death of two families and best friend."

The guy finished but Peter was past the point in caring. He felt the pain of the mention of his loss, he knew it had all happened but someone saying it out loud made it so much worse. So much more real. And it hurt. It hurt so much.

Peter felt as his hurt morphed into momentary anger so he picked up the note pad and pencil and started to write furiously,

"I know what I've been through so I don't need a stranger to recite it for me and throw it in my face. If this is all you wanted to do then I wish to leave."

He glared at the man, assessing his body language and facial expression, looking to see if anything changed. It didn't. The man just stared back at the teen, eye calculating.

"What are you going to do now?" he suddenly asked, making Peter pause.

"Their's nothing to do. I don't have a home or a family or a voice. I lost everything that fought for and no it's gone. The world will move on from Spider-Man as it has done before." Peter wrote, feeling the empty feeling in his gut lurch.

"So what? Your just going to sit there and travel form one broken home to the next, each one more messed up than the last? Your just going to give up?"

"I KNOW WHAT'S NEXT!!! But this is out of my control! I can either lean to live with it or fight against it. There's no way out. No alternative. I had the chance to protect my family and I blew it and now I have to deal with the consciences."

The man just sat there, expression turning dejected as he read the truth of the words the teenager had wrote. Finally he took a deep breath before he looked back at Peter, expression resolved.

"What if I can offer you an alternative?"

Peter scoffed and wrote, "And then I can become part of the secret spy club? With your organisation influencing my actions, putting your needs above the people's? Like the Avengers? Yeah, no thanks."

"We wont make or pressure you into doing anything. We only wish to aid you with back up either from the Avengers or our stand by Agents. We want to help you, Peter."

"I don't need help and I don't want it either. I've gotten by for a year and a half without help or back up. Why the hell is it so important now?" Peter glared at him.

"You are a 16 year old kid, who is still in school! You run around with little resources and no back up! If you really don't need any help then why are you homeless with no family to speak of? If you never needed our help then why are you mute for the rest of your life?" 

That comment hurt the most. The thought of a back up or helping hand could have saved his family form Death's clutches. How he had failed them... Peter could now feel the tears in his eyes beginning to overflow.

The man got up and was about to leave Peter to silently cry alone when he turned around, voice slightly softer "I'm sending you to live with the Avengers. They'll protect you and train you. I don't want to see you on the streets until you are fit enough to fight. I'll send Coulson to bring you a burger or something, you looked half starved."

And with that he left Peter alone, which Peter silently thanked him for as he felt a silent sob loose from his burning lungs and sore throat.

He needed help, he knew that. He was just so afraid of people leaving him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Fury's kind of a dick but he's being a dick for a good cause!!  
> And now you know how truly domestic the Avengers are!!  
> More to come.  
> Update soon, PROMISE!!


	5. They Meet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been thinking about this chapter for days and I can't think about anything else!! So here we go!  
> Another chapter! Half way to double digits! ....if it gets that far...  
> Soooooo ENJOY!!!

It was around a full 5 minutes before Agent Coulson came by to pick Peter up. The tears had been wiped away only leaving tracks on his face but his eyes were red and his cheeks were slightly flushed. Peter didn't want anyone to see him like this, they would stare and pity him. He didn't want to deal with that so he kept his head down.

He was relatively surprised when his sense of smell was overcame with the delicious smell of three burgers, all of which were a different type but had equal mouth watery-ness. He smiled. It was small but the small smile that twisted his lips was still there as he reached for one of the juicy packages.

"Come on." Coulson said, voice as emotionless as always, "You can eat those along the way. And take these too." he tapped the booklet and pencil that now had small and crude doodles of the man before with a pirate hat on and gap teeth.

The Agent smirked, "You'll fit right in. Lets go to the Avengers Tower."

Peter didn't know what the man meant by that. He'll fit in with the Avengers? Peter saw the Avengers as a tad bit destructive and he felt it best if he didn't get involved as he needed to protect his identity and lets be honest, they're intimidating as hell. Seriously, a whole group of super heroes that have a variety of techniques and intelligence. Who wouldn't be intimidated?!

And apparently their home is intimidating as well. Especially when you're standing at the front doors looking up and finding it towering over you like a part of a live-model of Dracula's castle but less pointy and more light... Great. Just great.

He turned to Coulson with wide eyes practically pleading to set him free but the Agent only wore a half smile, the bastard.

He was awesome when he brought Peter food, he'd kept a left over hamburger in his jacket pocket, but right now he was back to being a bastard. No, no... he's a _sadistic_ bastard. Yeah, that sounds about right.

"Don't worry. It looks friendlier on the inside." he said as the continued through the front doors.

Before Peter could even write something sarcastic down, he was confronted with high techie tech that made his fingers twitch with want and that was just in the reception area! God knows what it was like on the higher levels! Before the... Foster care... he'd wanted to get a internship at Stark Industries but even back then it was just his wishful thinking and he never thought he'd even be able to get to the front desk before he was kicked out.

Coulson literally had to steer Peter around the crowds of working people going home as he tried to take in everything at once and evidently started to bump into random people. They soon entered the elevator and Peter could feel himself getting tense again. His instincts were screaming at him to run for the hills while he could but Coulson's heavy hand on his shoulder grounded him. To be honest, Peter wasn't sure if the Agent held his shoulder to comfort him or to make sure he didn't actually make a run for it. Probably both.

Just then, the elevator doors closed and sealed his fait. He was doomed to meet and live with the Avengers. There was no way out of this.

"JARVIS, straight to the Avenger's common floor please."

"Of course, Agent Coulson." replied a voice that made Peter jump and cling to the ceiling in panic.

Tentatively, Peter turned his head to look at the Agent's face who's eyes were only slightly wide with shock, other than that, there was no change to a natural stoney face.

"I'll let Sir know that you have Spider-Man in your company." deadpanned JARVIS. Maybe it was some kind of AI? It would defiantly explain the disembodied voice in the elevator. And how the hell can an AI sound _that_ sarcastic?! It was like a giant complicated computer!

Coulson could only bring up his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose as he muttered, "Yep, he'll fit in just fine."

 

\-----------------

 

"DON'T PUT THE TOASTER IN THE CORNER!!" Clint screeched, while he jumped out of the ceiling vent.

"Well, where else am I supposed to put it and did you seriously just quote 'Dirty Dancing'?" Tony asked as he held on to the toaster he'd just fixed from the aftermath of Steve's old man hands.

"What's 'Dirty Dancing'?"

There were collective gasps in the kitchen (Clint and Tony) followed by an uproar of movie nights and declarations of the end of the world (again Clint and Tony). That then lead to a whole list of movies the inventor and archer where then putting together, which included 'Lord of the Rings', 'Bridget Jone's Diary', 'Star Wars' and a bunch of other films.

Steve turned his quizzical gaze to the only other perfectly sane people in the room, hoping to get an answer from them.

Sam could only sigh and mumble something about ordering Pizza before walking away. Bruce could only shrug and go back to sipping his tea and Natasha had a mask of complete boredom.

"Clint used a famous quote from a movie called 'Dirty Dancing'. You obviously offended them by knowing nothing about movie history. Again." she said in such a deadpanned voice it wasn't even funny... just scary.

"Okay..." Steve said, not sure if understood 100%, "We can watch a movie tonight..."

There was sudden silence in the room as everyone stared at Steve which made him blush a deep red through all the attention. Then Clint and Tony let out twin "WHOOPS" before taking in, what the good Captain could only call, babble. He's pretty sure the heard the words 'popcorn', 'cinema' and 'pizza' before he completely ignored their conversation. He had to do that a lot these days.

"Sir, Agent Coulson and Spider-Man are in the elevator." JARVIS spoke over the babble.

"Thank you, JARVIS" Steve said to the ceiling, then to his teammates "Come on. We need to greet our new member. Sam! Front and centre!"

The whole team, sans Thor, were gathered around the elevator waiting for the doors to slide open. When they finally did, they were met with Agent Coulson and a young teen. The teen looked tired and his hoodie looked slightly dirty with the hood oddly bunched around his neck. His hair was wild and he held a note book and pencil in one hand with a large bag in the other.

Steve was about to speak, when he caught sight of the teens eyes and the words got stuck in his throat. His brown eyes were haunted and filled with pain. Eyes that were in contrast with the youth of this person. They were the eyes of someone who has lost too much and has seen too much and with every second Steve looked into the teens eyes, his heart broke a little more and all he wanted to do was hold and protect him for the rest of his life.

"Hey, Agent!" Tony said as he swaggered over to the duo and slung his arm over the teen's shoulders, "Who's the kid? JARVIS, you said that Spider-Man was with Agent."

"Avengers," Coulson spoke before JARVIS could, "This is Peter Parker, aka. Spider-Man."

Everyone went stock still and wide eyed at the unexpected information. Spider-Man was a kid! What the hell happened there?!

"WHAT!" Tony yelled, "Are you serious? He can't be older than 15, for Thor's sake!"

The teen, Peter, shouldered Tony's arm off and turned to Coulson with a glare as he flipped to a page in his note pad and started to write with the pencil, he turned it over to Coulson so he could read it. With Steve's enhanced eye sight, he could see that it said, "You didn't tell them?"

Coulson, stoic as always, replied "They knew that Spider-Man was coming but they were not aware of your true identity."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait. Do you expect us to believe that _this_ is Spider-Man? There's no way this _kid_ could do any of that stuff!" Tony exclaimed.

"Stark--" Steve called angrily but was cut off by Peter thrusting a piece of paper under Tony's nose.

It said, "I could say the same thing about your intelligence."

Tony went bright red as Clint whispered, "Oh! Tony got burned!"

"Then why don't you say it then?" Tony sneered at Peter, and everyone could clearly see the hurt and hesitation on his face, except Stark because he was too angry to notice Peter's change in demeanour, "If you can't say it, why don't you just go back to mummy and go play with the other kiddies instead."

"Stark! That's enough!" Coulson yelled as he reached for Peter's shoulder but he dodged the touch.

There was silence as everyone watched Peter turn his face to the ground, hiding from view and refusing to look at the group of heroes. They could see his hands shake as he clutched his bag strap in a white knuckled grip.

"... Come on Coulson. You don't really expect us to believe..." Sam trailed off.

Then Peter began to write, after he finished he thrust the note pad and pencil into Coulson's chest before stepping round the man and into the elevator. No body made a move to stop him as they watched the kid disappear behind metal doors.

Coulson read the note before he angrily threw it on the floor for the Avengers to see and took out his phone. Which was a surprise because Coulson hardly ever showed his emotions to the team.

The note read, "Real help they'll be. Tell the Pirate that I'll take the broken homes. I don't want to stay where I'm not wanted."

Steve's eyes shot up as he heard Coulson talk down the phone, a slight harshness in his voice, "Yeah, The Avengers fucked up... He just walked out and I don't think he'll come back voluntarily... I'm not sure but he has to have some kind of safe house to stay at, he has no family after all..."

That's when Steve stopped listening and his brain kicked into gear. He remembered Fury saying that Spider-Man had lost everything. Is that what he meant? The kid's lost his family and then what Stark had said... Oh god...

"I think we messed up." Steve murmured to the others.

Everyone looked at Steve confused, everyone other than Natasha, obviously. She scowled at everyone and then smacked Clint round the back of his head.

"OW! What was that for?!"

"For being an idiot. You should have figured it out." She looked round at the team, her glare settling on Tony, "The kid couldn't speak, physically. If you looked closely at the kid's neck, you would have seen part of a scar, relatively new. And what the Director said: 'he's lost everything'. I'd bet you 50 that Peter has no family at all. He's alone. And you practically shunned him at the most delicate and grieving time in his life."

There was silence again, (and it seemed to be happening more often than not) as everyone felt the guilt settle in their guts.

Tony streaked his hands through his hair as he said, "I really screwed up this time. God, I feel like a jerk."

"You should." Natasha said, giving him a steely glare.

"Director Fury wants to speak to you." Coulson called as he put his phone away. His face was like stone but his voice was tinged in annoyance.

Well, they probably deserved anything that Fury threw at them.

 

\-------------------

 

Peter stormed out of the intimidating and somewhat ugly tower with his hood up and head down. He couldn't believe that they were all such jerks!! Even Captain freaking America didn't believe him!

Fury made one _hell_ of a big mistake. Those people were never going to accept him or protect him or look out for him. There was a reason he was alone and if a team of super heroes acted like _that_ then maybe he was better off alone.

And so much for the _Great Tony Stark_. The guy acted like an absolute idiot and like he's been deprived of human interaction for most of his life and he has no idea how to actually hold a conversation without offending the opposite party.

Night was beginning to fall as he walked through the empty streets of New York to his safe place. He knew that he'd be alone there. Safe. Away from everyone. His father's underground hide out was the perfect place to stay for a while. No one knew about it.

He was just making his way past an alley-way when he heard a small scuffle. It was barely audible but Peter could hear it and the small buzz of his warning senses echoing in the back of his head made him pause. The alley was impossibly dark but with the help of the moon, Peter could vaguely see an outline of a dumpster and slight movements from behind it. Peter was about to brush it off as nothing when he heard a scrape of metal and a pained grunt.

Without a second thought, Peter ran into the alley, his main thought was to aid the person getting attacked. Peter caught sight of a gleam of metal and a group of five guys with guns surrounding one guy.

The surrounded guy looked beat up but Peter could see a bunch of bodies on the floor so the guy wasn't incompetent, just outnumbered. He could even the score without revealing his powers. Maybe...

Without a moment hesitation, Peter jumped in and kicked a guy in the face. Instant knock out.

God he missed this.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> duh duh DUH!!!!!  
> I'm not sure if I did too good on this chapter but there you go!  
> Updates will come soon, PROMISE!!  
> Bye for now!


	6. Back to base!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally getting on to this again.  
> Sorry it's been so long but I've been a little busy with school and such as well as my other stories.  
> So here it is! ENJOY!!!!

So... It turned out to be a lot more complicated than he first thought.

It was easy to say that these guys were not your usual thugs on the streets by their trained fighting style which, Peter knew, would have taken years to learn. The combination of armed and fast was really hard to beat while he was in civilian clothing which, in extension, he had to hide his... gifts. Yeah, lets call it gifts.

There were about five guys. Slightly beaten and bruised but still standing. It was strange. Most of the thugs on the streets would have turned tail and tried to run at this point. The bad guys wore masks and what seemed to be identical clothing; all black with a couple of buckles here and there as well as combat boots.

Peter had just kicked a guy in the back of the knees and hit him round the head in one fluid movement, rendering him unconscious when one of the men in front of him leaped forward and swung his fist at Peter's head with a knife in hand. He only ducked just in time to miss the swing, getting his hair trimmed along the way... He'd so make a witty comment about it if he could... Great! Now, that just made him depressed!

"Your skilled." the man stated in a husky sort of voice, "We may have use for you..."

Peter answered by sliding over a lid of the dumpster and kicking the man in the back of the head. Two down, three to go.

Then two of them came at him at once, fists raised, ready to hit. He dodged both attacks by dropping to the floor where he gave an amused snort as the men stumbled, nearly hitting one another. It almost looked the a scene out of a bad action movie but he only had limited time to think about it as he twisted his legs around, effectively taking them down to the floor where they both hit their heads. Out like a light.

Looking around at the sprawled and slightly bloodied bodies, Peter huffed in satisfaction. But then he froze. His senses spiking and screaming at him to move out of the way.

As it turned out, he didn't need to as the guy that was getting beaten up by the creepy men from before punched the guy that was about to KO him from behind. 'Most dishonourable' a TV show Sensei would most likely say... Peter gave a small laugh at the image his mind preserved for him. Funny...

It was only then that Peter noticed something strange about the man he'd just saved. The man stood tall, nearly looming over him with his broad shoulders and blank expression. Then man had long, chopped hair that lightly brushed his shoulders, eyes were dark and calculating while the moon light gleamed off of the metal arm that was attached to the man's shoulder. And then he realised that said metal arm could actually _move_.

Before he even had time to process that, Peter was suspended from the concrete ground with the cold bite of the metal fingers circled round his throat and squeezing. Very, very tightly and quickly cutting off his air-way.

Peter struggled and kicked, like any sane and desperate person would but the man refused to even budge and stared at Peter with a damned dead expression that would creep out man or animal to no end.

A straggled chocking noise forced it's way passed Peter's lips which, thank the heavens, made the creepy guy loosen his grip. Peter was still pinned to the wall and could still feel the threatening metal fingers round his neck but he could breath and that was the only thing that really mattered.

Then, the stranger spoke. He would have suspected the voice to be raspy or something along them lines but the voice came out clear and even, if a little dead sounding and deprived of any and all emotions. "Are you HYDRA?"

...What...

It took a couple of seconds to answer, his brain taking a little walk and abandoning him. He, almost violently, shook his head (what other way could he answer?). He learnt about HYDRA in history. They were destroyed by Captain America back in World War II... So what the hell was this guy on about?

"Are you with the Avengers?"

The question had Peter look up at the man in utter confusion and a hint of exasperation. Why on earth would a random stranger on the streets be an Avenger? He didn't even have a strong finger, no buff or huge muscles; that's what made his cover for Spider-Man so effective. And besides, the Avengers were rated a bunch of dick faces by him specifically.

Again, he shook his head.

The man regarded him with those untrusting and calculating eyes as if he was peering into his soul trying to find every little dirty secret.

It was a couple of minutes before the man nodded at him and relaxed his tense shoulders but only slightly.

"Good. One thing: no hospitals or I'll die along with you..." and then the guy fell, right into Peter's arms.

Momentarily surprised, Peter struggled with the weight of heavy muscle and a metal arm which was obviously high techie-tech. Before Peter could start properly drooling over the beautiful piece of scientific technology, his fingers were met with something slightly wet and warm at the man's side. It didn't take him long to know what it was...

His eyes went wide in slight panic. His first thought was of a hospital but as he recalled what the huge scary guy in his arms had said, it was an extremely bad idea and he did not take the man for one that didn't hold up to death threats.

After what felt like ages in a frenzy of panic, Peter finally made a decision.

The man would have to come with him...

 

\----------

 

If anyone ever though that a group of super-powered adults getting told off like they were kids was funny? Well they could go straight down to the boiling depths of hell because it was humiliating and kind of terrifying. Especially if it's by a guy with an eye-patch with a vain that was bulging out of his forehead. Actually, that bit was funny but the 'being treated like naughty children' was not.

Tony could only stand there in the line with the rest of the team, in the common floor living room, facing the huge TV that Tony was now starting to regret was so huge and in HD. Seriously... He could see all the spit flying everywhere! Gross!

"You mother fuckers really did it this time!!" Fury screamed at them, the volume of his voice making Tony wince ever so slightly. "I ordered you to do one thing. One mother fucking thing! And you fuck it up like it's a fucking art form!! You just cost me a future asset for this team!!"

"Okay, okay." Tony yelled back in an attempt to stop the shouting that was quickly reaching beyond ear-drum capacity. "But you could've given us a heads up about a mute and grieving teenager!"

"I didn't tell you because it was none of your business! Yes, he's recently lost his second family and has lost the ability to speak but you shunned him as a person and a hero! A title that he may never go back to, _thanks_ to you!"

Tony obviously had nothing more to say to that as he looked away, shame and self-hatred clear on his face and burning in his eyes. Steve spoke up next.

"Sir, if we were to find Peter ourselves and apologise, do you think he would come back?"

Everyone watched patiently as Fury rubbed a hand over his face and then sighed long-sufferingly into them. When he looked at the team again, his eyes were hard with something akin to care. "I don't know where he is... It took us years to find him and even then, it was too late for us to protect him... He's alone out there. No back-up. No doctor. No family. And no home... He knows how to hide so it's not going to be easy."

Steve stood to attention, ever the good soldier-boy and said in a monotone voice that would be reserved for the army or something, "Sir, we will do everything in our power to get Peter back under our care."

There was a moment of silence where Fury looked at everyone with his one-eyed cold stare before he said with a hint of sarcasm, "Good luck..."

Silence filled the room once again as everyone looked at the other but it was soon broken by Tony, of course.

"Bastard." he muttered.

Everyone in the room, including Phil, gave him a dry eyed look as they asked, "What?"

Tony was pouting by now as he looked at his team with the most broken-hearted expression they'd ever seen on the genius' face, "He did that on purpose." he sniffed, "Didn't give me enough time to reply to the sarcasm and cut the feed at that moment on purpose."

Collectively, they all rolled their eyes at the reason (Steve's expression slightly more fonder than the others) and turned they're attention back to more serious matters.

"Right. This is Peter Parker's file. It's got everything in there about his school, history and when we think he started an alter ego as Spider-Ma--"

"Wait a minute, are you _seriously_ telling me that you don't know everything their is to know about this kid? You, the super secret organisation that knows all secrets" Tony asked somewhat suspiciously, then in a mocking tone, "Do you even know if he's got a girlfriend?"

"His latest girlfriend was murdered." Phil replied flatly then proceeded to ignore the stunned silence and placed the files on a small table while passing it to get to the elevator. Before it opened, he turned around and eyed each of the Avengers in turn. He stepped into the suspended metal box and as it was about to close he said in a neutral with an edge of warning tone, "Don't screw up again."

Everyone regarded Phil with slight surprise and his obviously protective tone; even Natasha was surprised.

"Okay..." Tony drawled before he clapped his hands and grabbed a file to lazily flick through but as he flipped through more pages, the more interested he seemed to be as he took up an expression of intrigue. He then snapped the file shut and loudly stated, "He's coming to live with us! It's official! I'm gonna have JARVIS put up a face match around the city and prepare a new room for our guest."

Blinking at the sudden change of attitude within the genius, Clint asked, obviously confused, "Why you in such a rush to find him, now? You didn't even like him."

"Yes. But that was before I knew how incredibly smart he was. And in my eyes, anyone who's hacked SHIELD is in my good books." he said with a wink and a thumbs up as he walked towards the labs and shouted while flinging his arms up in the air, "SCIENCE BROS FOR LIFE!!!!"

No one said a thing as the stared after the retreating form of the genius.

"Oh dear _Lord_! Not another one..." Sam groaned into his hands as he fell on his knees in defeat.

 

\----------

 

Carrying a duffle bag and an extremely heavy person, even with his enhanced strength, was extremely hard. Geez! What the hell did this guy eat?!

It took a couple of hours to get to Queens and by then he was tired, stressed and his best hoodie was being ruined by the man's blood. A man that had threatened to kill him if they went to the hospital... Just his kind of luck...

He was practically relieved when he found the entrance to the abandoned train tracks. It would only be a ten minute walk until he was at his father's old lab where he could stay for temporary shelter.

He sorted the place out the last time he was there, cleaning it of dust and old experiments, leaving some clothes, tinned food and a medical kit in case he was ever in trouble or a tight spot. Now seemed like a more perfect time than any other...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep... that happened...  
> I think Phil should milk this out and give them the evil glare whenever he sees them. I think that'd be kid of funny...  
> Right! Next chap will be on Peter and his companion's bonding time!! Can you guess who it is? Can you? *nudging elbow*  
> I will update soon! Promise!!


	7. A bond that forms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! New chapter! only a couple of more chapter till the end!  
> ENJOY ; )

The hidden lab was old and creaky, a thin layer of dust covering the whole place from the worktops to the cheap foam chairs that had survived the refurbishing that Peter's dad had put it through. The place wasn't an ideal living space but it had the main necessities stored up for a few days and it was great for getting away from civilisation. With his current homeless status and a wounded guy that looks to be epic and dangerous tagging along with him and threatening his life, it's a good place to go.

Right. The scary guy with the seriously cool metal arm that made him drool so hard that it kind of hurt... and bleeding all over Peter's jacket. As fast as possible and without hurting the guy, Peter carefully deposited the rugged man down on one of the spare train seats and set off to find the medical box as well as take off his jacket which was inevitably ruined by all the blood.

It wasn't long before he had the white medical box in hand, finding it safely tucked under one of the chairs near the shelf of canned food.

As Peter turned around to face the mystery man, he was able to see that the man wore dark clothes and worn shoes, some of the items seeming too big or too small as if they weren't his clothes. Well, they probably weren't, assuming that this guy was not one of the average citizens. Peter's eyes traveled slowly up to the face, seeing long, tangled and slightly greasy hair and-- _HOLY CRAP_!!

Peter had to physically stop himself from jumping on the ceiling as his eyes met the very much awake mans cold, grey and piercing eyes. The guy was just... looking. As if he was assessing every movement Peter did. It gave Peter the creeps. A strong feeling of 'under the microscope' settling deep into his stomach. Clutching his chest with his free hand and taking large gulps of air, Peter was able to get over his mild 'heart attack' which should not be happening at such a young age.

Taking one last breath, Peter slowly and carefully walked over to the man who looked ready to kill him at any wrong move.

Getting closer, Peter could see the man's lingering gaze on Peter's exposed scar (his hoodie blood-soaked and scrunched up in a corner) but there was no pity there. His face was avoid of all emotions as he assessed the scar and then moved on to assess the rest of Peter's movements.

They were only a few feet away from each other now and Peter could still see the bleeding wound but the man never showed a hint of discomfort for it. Stiffly, Peter gestured to the medical box and then the wound, silently asking for permission. At the slight nod, Peter was opening the box and dragging out all the things he needed to stitch the wound shut.

As his practiced hand carefully stitched through the skin a repeated in, out, in, out, the man did nothing. He showed no discomfort or pain and Peter didn't know if that was better that he didn't squirm or worse...

Once he tied off the string, Peter packed up the equipment, avoiding eye contact at all cost, and put it back in the box before he put the used bits in the bin and the box back under the dusty chair. He grabbed a pad of paper and pencil as a second thought and made his way to the man again.

It was awkward as they looked at each other, waiting for the other to start the conversation that couldn't be avoided but the stranger spoke first, making a grab for information that he didn't have.

"Where am I?"

His voice held no emotion and it was almost sinister in the way he said it but Peter started to write the answer on his note pad regardless.

"Queens, in an abandoned subway station. My dad made it into a hidden lab, no one knows that this place exists except me and now you."

"Who are you?" again cold, devoid of life.

"Name's Peter Parker."

"Why are you helping me?" Okay, still cold but now with a hint of curiosity; getting better.

Peter hesitated in answering, unsure how to put the words together, " ~~Who woul~~ I thought that it was an unfair fight so I decided to even out the odds." Peter gave a timid smile and a small one shoulder shrug and then wrote, "Your welcome by the way."

The man's lips twitched, a smile maybe or something close to that, so Peter carried on, intent on getting some answers of his own, "You got a name I can call you?"

Silence filled the train carriage for a couple of minutes as the man contemplated the written question but finally he replied, "You can call me James. How long can I stay here till your father comes back?"

Peter felt an unexpected pang of grief in his chest that had him blinking away a few tears. His real dad, Richard Parker, had been gone from Peter's life for years but with the... recent events, everything that he ever lost was so much more harder to deal with now than ever before.

With a shaky breath, he wrote, "He's not hear anymore. I'm alone."

The quietness that filled the carriage was starting to stretch as the man processed what Peter had written down so Peter flipped the page of the note book and started to write again in a furious fashion, "I've got some tinned food here and bottled water but I only stocked enough for a few days so I'll have to go buy some more in a couple of days. I need your clothes seize as well so that you can get some clothes that aren't covered in blood."

Peter handed the note pad to James and started to preoccupy himself with making up a suitable bed for them with the few blankets that he had there. He was so preoccupied with the blankets that he didn't notice the light footfalls of his wounded guest sneak up on him so as James tapped his shoulder, Peter had his second 'heart attack' in the space of half an hour.

While breathing deeply, Peter snatched the pen and paper out of James's hands and wrote in a big scrawl, "STOP DOING THAT!! Your gonna kill me with your ninja silence shit one day."

Peter then bent over grabbing his knees as he got his breathing under control again.

James's lips twitched slightly upwards, amused glint in his eyes as he said in a bland voice, "Do you know sign language?" at the shake of Peter's head, "Do you want me to teach you?"

His voice was hesitant, as if afraid of being denied or cautious of doing something wrong. Peter could only look up at him him amazement and shock at the offer before he shook himself out of it and nodded at James with great enthusiasm and a bright smile.

James nodded, his face like stone but his eyes warm when they regarded Peter. James knew that he shouldn't really trust anyone but the kid seemed so innocent and generous, it made him feel normal. At the kids smile, he felt a warmth spread through his chest, a near overwhelming sense of protectiveness took over and from that point on, James knew that he would look after this child. The child with such a big and kind heart for a cruel and selfish world...

All Peter could think was that this was a good start to a great friendship.

 

\----------

 

Tony had been at it for hours now, fingers constantly moving on the blue screens in from of him. Data and footage flashing and moving all around his lab as he reviewed it all. This was one times that Tony would admit that Fury was right because Tony had not been able to find a lick of evidence of where Parker went after he left the tower. It's like he melted into the wall or something.

Tiredly, Tony ran a hand over his face, this was definitely more harder than he originally thought. No wonder SHIELD had such a hard time tracking Spider-Man down...

"Rerun the face match for Manhattan and Queens again, please, Jarvis." he mumbled.

A small snore broke him out of his sleepy work haze as he turned to find the source of the noise. A small smile twitched at his lips as he saw Steve Rogers sprawled out on his lab sofa, mouth wide open, finger-tips smothered in black charcoal hung off the sofa nearly brushing the cold tiled floor and looking kind of like a little kid. It was adorable and Tony couldn't pass up the option of the perfect future photo blackmailing.

As Steve shifted slightly in his sleep, Tony's grin turned into a soft smile as he unfolded the thick blanket the was hung on the back of the sofa and draped it over the Captain's form.

He only took a moment to look upon the Captain before he was turning back to his task.

Every moment that the kid wasn't here was a reminder of just how much Tony screwed up. He had to make it up to Peter in any way he can. He just had to find him or the guilt would eat him alive and no amount of Steve's comfort would change the fact that it was entirely Tony's fault...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony can be forgiven 'cause he feels bad and Peter's got some mad skills at evading cameras! Years of experience obviously...  
> Thanks for reading and thanks for the comments on this, I'm really glad you've enjoyed it so far.


	8. One time too many

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Another chapter!!  
> I'm hoping to finish this story soon so the long school break will help to speed things up! Yay!  
> So.... ENJOY!!

The air was still stale and the guy was definitely still creepy but Peter couldn't help but feel at ease. He was finally away from the gazes of pity and away from the judging eyes of the team of stuck-up heroes and he was finally away from the world. Peter could only feel a little guilty over the fact that he was leaving everyone behind like that. All his teachers and classmates that were concerned about him didn't even know if he was still alive and okay, he just upped and left.

What stopped him from going to Paul and getting another family was that it would never be his family. He'd always be an intrusion on their lives. Would always be the piece that belonged no where... 

He had more important things to think about now. The guy, James, needed his help and by the looks of things, was in more deep shit than Peter was. Judging by the nights that he'd heard the very-scary-but-somehow-loveable man thrashing in the middle of the night from the nightmares that plagued his dreams. Peter could only guess what they were about but with one look at James' arm, where scarred skin met metal, he could tell that it was indescribable.

James' had taken to teaching Peter sign language at random times in the day, often talking to Peter slowly as he did the action so that Peter could understand what each sign was used with. Peter could tell that the teaching was helping James. He could see that it distracted the man from his haunting thoughts by focusing on helping Peter. It benefitted them both, perfectly.

They liked each others company, James' love for quiet settings and Peter's dislike of conversation for obvious reasons helped them find comfort. However, their little merry world ould only go on for so long...

"James'" Peter signed after tapping on the window to gain the man's attention, "Food" he signed next while indicating the cabinet.

The shelf supported only a few tins of food, barely enough for a meal that night.

James got the message as he gave a short nod and went to find something presentable for venturing out into the world but at Peter's tapping, James stopped to turn to the child. A note pad was held in front of Peter, with the words, "I'll go. Your still healing" written in big letters.

Sighing, James looked at his bandaged wound and his inability to run as fast as he could if he were to get into trouble. He knew that Peter was right. That Peter was healthy enough to complete the task and come back safely. It didn't mean that James liked it.

There was another tap, "You know I'm right and I know the area around here as well so I'll know what shops will be good and such." was now sprawled over a fresh white page in black ink.

Heaving a heavy sigh, James nodded and the deed was done...

 

\--------------------

 

After Peter had collected what was left of his small savings of money, he traveled to the world of the living once again. To say he was nervous was an understatement and he really didn't want to go back into a world that he had given everything to help, only to be shunned and dismissed. All he wanted to do was hide from a world that looked at him differently for something he had no control over.

Cut the crap - he was freaking terrified and he wasn't sure what he'd do if he ran into someone he used to know...

But in a wonderfully bliss moment, all of that was gone. As soon as the sun hit his face, all of his problems faded into the background as he relished in the sun. The warm touches made Peter want to sigh with content and cry with frustration all at once. But it only lasted a second as everything came flooding back to him, especially his promise to James. Do it as fast as he can and then come straight back. Get in, get out. Simple.

Bunching his hood around his neck and stuffing his clenched hands in his pockets, Peter walked out of the underground tunnel entrance and joined the crowd, acting as if he had every right to be there, just like everyone else.

Flowing with the crowd of busy people, cooped up in their own lives and work to notice the seemingly normal teenager.

Food was first.

Taking a left turn, up a small street, where he knew he'd find various amounts of tinned food (the old woman who owned it grew up in Britain at the time of rationing and just fresh from the end of the war so she had the habit of storing tinned food drilled into her at a young age).

The store was relatively big, with different necessities dotted around the areas of the room. Many people went to this store and it seemed like no exception today as he saw the shop full of a wide variety of people. Good. More crowd, more cover.

Right now, Peter was just shopping. Looking for some tinned food and piling up and-- EW! Is that tinned chicken pie?! What the hell?!

Just as Peter was contemplating weather to get something that was bound to be absolutely disgusting or just leave it and pretend he never saw anything, he heard something that made his blood run cold...

If the sound of jet boots and metal landing on concrete was any given then the way the crowd instantly thickened to get to the source was. While the crowds thickening would have been a good thing, it really wasn't. Everyone was all going on one direction, trying to get to their shirts signed or whatever, while Peter was obviously trying to do the exact opposite.

Apparently, _Iron Man_ didn't have the same problem as he opened up his metal suit and stepped forth, opening the crowd like he was parting the red sea... Wow...

Okay, Peter seriously had to make a break for it or risk being caught. Maybe he could climb over the aisle shelves? Yeah and then act like a crazy fan while trying to get away from the whole thing while simultaneously being kicked out of this store until they forgot his face. Yeah, why not?

His plan was just about to take affect when he felt a cold, hard and extremely metal hand grab hold of his shirt and hoodie. He only got a second to see the smirk of the genius billionaire and the slight twinkle of mischief in his bright brown eyes before the absolutely unimaginable happened. Tony _fucking_ Stark turned on his heels and proceeded to _drag_ Peter from behind, letting the teen fumble and trip the whole way due to the tight grip Stark had him in and his inability to walk backwards at a fast pace.

Peter didn't realise it at first but the whole store had gone deathly silent as they watched with no small amount of shock as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, kidnaps a kid right in front of them. They see Peter pleading for help but as nothing comes out of his mouth to match the faces he's pulling, the crowd is left in even more shock as they discover that Tony Stark is kidnapping a muted teenager!

All Peter could do was yank and glare at the most likely ginning man's back with his most hated look that could kill a person on the spot. (Well, it couldn't really but you get the point!)

It was too late for anyone to act now as Tony stepped back into his armour, pulled Peter into his chest and then took off with no more than a loud cackle at the sight of Peter's panicked face at being lifted into the air by no accord of his own.

Looks like he wasn't going to be home in time for dinner...

 

\--------------------

 

Steve could only watch with growing disbelief as he watched Tony drag Peter out of the store and proceed to fly off with him all of it captured on TV. Oh _god_! Coulson was going to _kill_ them for the amount of paper work this would bring up...

They'd all been through three days of an antsy Tony. The man was more twitchy and jittery than usual and he was constantly looking at the speakers or a camera in the room, silently asking for JARVIS to say that he'd found Parker. But at the no answer, he'd go back to whatever he was doing but with a more nervous look each time. This had gone on for about two days.

Two and a half days of a near silent Tony, that unnerved everyone than anything else, and no teenage addition to the building. But in the afternoon of day three, Tony came leaping out of the lab, a bright smile on his face as he took Steve's face between his hands and planted a loud kiss on Steve's lips. The blond was left so speechless, he didn't even realise that Tony was putting on his suit until it was too late.

Now he was seated in front of the TV and looking at what was clearly Tony dragging Peter out of a shop and flying off with him. The whole thing was being blown up by all the assumptions and theories made by the public or the reporters themselves. According to the rest of the world, an innocent, recently orphaned kid was snatched up by Tony Stark against his will... This is how super heroes get labeled as kidnappers...

Steve was just about finished gapping at the news report when he heard the tell tail signs of Tony coming into land. Rubbing his hand over his face as a tired gesture, Steve got himself ready for the too long and too fast explanation that Tony would throw his way and later on would regret asking for.

He just got out there in time to see one furious Peter Parker drop to the landing a start yelling at the still flying Tony, obviously forgetting his muted state in his anger. The sight just made Steve's heart break as he watched Peter stop, a broken and angry expression clear on his face as he realised the mistake he'd made and then turn on his heels, in the direction of the edge of the platform...

"Shit." Steve whispered under his breath before he sprinted to stop Peter, "Peter! Don't do it, son!"

Peter partially turned around to face the Captain, did something with his hands before he turned around and was running to the edge of the building again. Swearing under his breath again, Steve picked up the pace. It was close. Peter had just left the platform when Steve grabbed the back of his jacket and pulled the kid into his arms. The wriggling began instantly as Peter kicked and tried to break the hold as much as he could, the problem for Steve was that he could actually feel the punches. Damn... The kid was stronger than he looked!

"Peter. Peter! Stop!" Tony yelled as he ran over, his suit gone, "We're trying to help!"

The movement stopped and all that could be heard was Peter's heavy, exhausted breathing.

"Steve, put him down." Tony said softly.

"You sure?" Steve asked, his voice full of disbelief.

As Tony cast his soft brown eyes to Steve's soft blues and nodded his head, Steve slowly let go of the young teen. There was only slight alarm when Steve let go and Peter started to slide down onto the floor but he stopped himself from grabbing Peter again when Tony wrapped his arms around the teens shoulders and carefully guided them to the floor.

At Tony's shushing noises and his gentle stroking of Peter's head, Steve realised that the kid was crying. Silent sobs racked his small frame as he clung to Tony's clothes like a life line. Steve didn't know what to do but a couple of minutes later Peter went limp in Tony's hold. His heavy and uneven breathes now deep and steady indicating that the boy had cried himself to sleep.

The blond was so transfixed that he didn't realise that Tony was calling for him until he started to shift the teen into more of a secure hold.

"Steve!" Tony hissed, "Snap out of it and help me up!"

Murmuring a quick sorry, Steve lifted Peter up into his arms. From the position that he was holding him, Steve could see the red flushed cheeks and the tired dark circles under his eyes. Peter seemed more pale than the last time they saw the boy and his face had defined lines, like he hadn't been eating for the last couple of months. With the sunlights help, Steve could see the tear streaks running down his face and when he looked at Tony he could see a patch of wetness where Peter had cried.

Steve looked at Tony's eyes and could see the guilt beginning to rise as he took in the boys state as well. He'd have to talk to Tony later...

"As soon as he wakes up we need to get him a _lot_ of food..." Steve whispered to Tony, "I think I can feel his ribs through this jacket."

Tony nodded before he looked up at Steve again guilt and self hatred beginning to curdle in his eyes.

"You know that this isn't your fault, right?" Steve asked.

Plastering on a fake smile, Tony replied in a bright tone, "Of course."

Steve's smile was sad when he looked down at Tony, "That would have worked if I didn't know you. We're having a discussion about this later." Steve said firmly, leaving no room for argument.

Rolling his eyes with a barely concealed smirk, Tony started to walk back to the living room as he called over his shoulder, "You coming or what?!"

Steve stood there for a moment, contently starring at Tony's ass before he followed after the shorter man.

 

\----------

 

 

James wanted to scream. Wanted to clutch his hair and and cry his heart out. He didn't care what he'd been taught for years in his captivity because right now, they had Peter. A homeless and orphaned child that had done nothing wrong but help him and give him some cover.

It might be fair to say that he'd grown attached to the kid. He didn't know why but the fact that the kid seemed so small just helped in his attachment.

Peter had helped him in a tight spot and all he'd done after was give and give when he practically had nothing and now, the Avengers had gotten ahold of him. It was James' fault that they took the boy. They probably had info that Peter had helped him out and was giving him cover. So, if this was his fault, then he needs to fix it.

Standing up and turning the news report of the kidnapping incident off, James looked at his uniform that Peter had hung over one of the chairs.

If the bastards want the Winter Soldier, then they were in for one hell of a surprise...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll have you know that I can be extremely immature in serious scenes and FIY Who wouldn't look at Tony Starks ass?! No one can deny this!!  
> And their is actually is such a thing as tinned chicken pie... It's gross btw.  
> I will update soon, PROMISE!


	9. Of rescues and Hostages

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Another update!!  
> Sorry for the wait but you don't need to worry as I'll be focusing on this more as it's nearly the end. AW! Sad times but nearly there!!  
> ENJOY my imagination!!

When Peter woke up all he could do was stare.

He was on his back, under him was the softest sheets he had ever felt and he was lying on top of the type of mattress that had a million pockets of springs in it. The ceiling over head was pure white and clear of any specks of mould or dust. Peter could tell that the room was massive and that the furnishings were probably well made and something that he would marvel over and wouldn't dare to touch as it would probably be more expensive than his old home.

Home.

He didn't have a home anymore. No family to go to. No shelter to protect him. He'd lost his home the moment Aunt May hit the floor...

Tears burned his eyes and his throat hurt with the effort to not openly sob his heart out. Where had it all gone so wrong?! He wants to say that the point his life took the never ending downwards spiral was when his uncle had died. But that would be a lie. It wasn't even when he became a freak of nature and started to spontaneously stick on walls. No. The moment his life began it's never ending train wreck was when his parents died. After that, it'd been one crisis after another.

Peter gave a mirthless, silent chuckle at this. To start out in this world with bright innocent eyes, to come out so scared and beaten after a few years was pretty pathetic...

What was even stranger was the fact that he seemed to cope by helping random people when they needed it. He now realises that that was what he was doing with James. Letting him stay with him until he was in the right position to leave and live a normal life again.

Oh _God_!! James!!!

He'd completely forgotten that he was kidnapped by Tony Stark while trying to get some food for the both of them and he probably had no idea where the hell he was and was freaking the hell out.

Peter needed to at least let him know that he was okay!

Moving off of the heavenly bed for the first time since he woke up, Peter searched around the room. As expected the room was filled with polished furnishings that probably cost and arm and a leg each but in the corner of the room was a door.

Content on getting the heck out of here, Peter made a bee-line for the door and went to open it - only to find it locked...

Great! Just fucking great!! So, now he's a prisoner... And why the hell are there no _windows_ in this stupid room!!

 

\----------

 

"So let me get this straight," Sam sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He swears, he's getting more grey hairs than anything else with these people, "You found Peter. Then you kidnapped Peter. And now you've locked him in a room so he can't get out and run away again."

"Yes," Tony answered as if this was a completely normal thing to do.

"ARE YOU _INSANE_!!??" he screeched.

Tony winced at the sheer volume of the screech, "Jesus, I guess we know who's more bird like out of you and Clint. And what else was I supposed to do?"

"Ask him?" Sam replied in complete exasperation.

There was silence as Tony thought over the option, "Huh, well, I did't really think about that..."

"OH MY GOD!!" Sam yelled as he threw his arms up in even more exasperation, "Steve! Why the hell did you even think it was a good idea for me to come here?!"

"Foods good." Steve replied without a moment of hesitation.

Sam gave his friend a deadpanned look before he muttered something about the gym and marched off to the elevator once again.

"Is it me or does he do that at least once a day?" Tony asked when the elevator door closed.

It was Steve's turn to give Tony a deadpanned look before he sighed, "You really should have come up with a better way other than kidnapping."

"If I'd tried to apologise to him or even attempted to get him alone, he would have ran away from me and that would be the end of that. I know that it wasn't a smart move but I think exhaustion kind of took the wheel in this one... Sorry?"

Steve shook his head, a badly suppressed smirk on his lips as he said, "Don't say sorry to me, say it to Phil when he comes to us with a mountain of paper work to do because of this." 

Tony's face instantly paled at the mention of Agent and paper work. The guy literally became your worst nightmare when he came to you with paper work. And Tony was speaking from experience. If there was one thing that Tony could teach anyone in life it was to _not_ piss off Agent Phil Coulson. _Ever_.

"Oh my _Thor_... Steve! You have to hide me!! Fake my death or something!! Please! Please!" he cried dramatically as he clung to Steve's shirt, "I'll do anything! Please! Not the paper. Anything but the paper!!"

Steve chuckled as he watched Tony slowly sink to the floor, he was too used to Tony's oddity to be annoyed about it like he used to, "Nope. Sorry, Tony but you of all people should know that you can never hide from Phil."

He was being completely truthful with this. Phil always seemed to know where everyone was and what they were doing. One time he found Tony hiding in Hong Kong after a different incident that resulted in a wheel-barrow full of paper work. It was kind of creepy but amusing at the same time.

"Hey, speaking of Thor," Tony started.

"We weren't talking about Thor--"

"When's he supposed to be coming back? Is it today?"

"No, I think he's supposed to be coming back tomorrow." Steve answered, "Why?"

"I was only--"

Then everything was cast into complete darkness.

 

\----------

 

James was _not_ impressed.

It may be impressive to the rest of the world and may be known as the most advanced technology in the world and considering that, you'd think that the security would propose as a challenge. It wasn't.

Ten minutes was all he needed to create a temporary virus to disable the AI that Stark had in his building and sneak into the upper floors to turn out the lights, plunging the beacon of light into sudden darkness. After he'd broken into their private elevator, James used his black light to find out which floor button was used the most. Floor number in mind, James was off as fast as he could.

Arriving on the most used floor, James found that most of the occupants were on this floor, five shadows moving and bumping around in the darkness, calling for each others location. James could easily see Stark, he was the only one with a glowing circle in the middle of his chest.

He moved fast, attacking the shadows of the room and knocking them unconscious before they could even put up a fight. The one that had the figure of a woman was the hardest to kick out as she fought him off in the darkness but it wasn't long until she was out cold along with everyone else. Taking out a big bag of zip-ties, James proceeded to tie up the occupants of the room to the surrounded objects of the room. He only left one unattached to a bolted pole of piece of furniture.

Taking Tony Stark's wrists behind his back, James used his zip-tie and pulled the wrists together, perhaps a little tighter than necessary, and also tied two around the bend of his elbows, looping them together to keep the joints attached. He then ripped off the mans shirt to expose the bright glow of the famous arc reactor so that they could see where they were going. The man was still out cold so James poured himself a glass of water from the kitchen that he could vaguely see.

Returning to Stark, James crouched down beside him and then proceeded, with much joy, to pour the ice-cold water over the mans face making him jerk back to consciousness.

"W-What?" he asked weakly, seeing James but not registering him.

"I'm going to ask you a question and your going to answer it." James explained in a mono tone voice when he saw Stark's eyes slightly widen in recognition. "First of all: Where is Peter Parker?"

The shock was there for a split second before it turned into an expressionless mask but James caught it.

"You know where he is," James stated, "And your going to take me to him. If you don't then I will kill them and then you."

Stark quickly nodded before James heaved him to his feet, a tight bruising grip on the man's upper arm.

"How do you know Peter, anyway?" Stark asked, generally curious.

James didn't answer Stark's question, only squeezing his arm tighter to shut him up. He did't want to talk to the man that had kidnapped his friend. His friend that he didn't mean to be friends with but somehow the child had wormed his way into his heart.

 

\----------

 

Peter was surprised when the lights went out and he was surrounded by complete darkness. So surprised, in fact, that he didn't even realise that the door was now unlocked until a full five minutes later.

Giving a silent cheer, Peter ventured out into the dark halls of the Avengers Tower trying to at least find some kind of open window or a way out of the creepy tower. It wasn't long until the emergency lights came on and he was blinded by the orange light hall.

Blinking, Peter adjusted to the sudden light, eyes nearly closed and eyes watering from the brightness, but before he could go to what looked to be a staircase a few feet in front of him only to have it thrown open with such force that it hit the wall behind making a loud _**B** **ANG** **!**_

Acting on instinct, Peter jumped onto the ceiling to get out of the danger zone of whoever was angry enough to throw open a door like _that_ (seriously the thing was barely hanging onto it's hinges). It wasn't until he caught the sight of mid-long scruffy brown hair and a gleaming metal arm that he realised who it was that was apparently holding-- was that _Tony Stark?!_ \-- hostage.

Peter could only stare with wide eyes and gaping mouth as James spotted him and came to a sudden stop. Shocked surprise clear as day on the others face.

"Peter?!" he blurted in his surprise.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is where I leave you today...  
> I'm quite happy with this chapter to be honest, I expected it to be worse...  
> Anyway, more is on the way!!  
> Updates soon, Promise!! ;D


	10. Sam Wilson is so done...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've finally updated it!!!  
> YEAH!!!

"Peter?!"

James could do no more than stare at his helpless, innocent, orphaned, teenaged friend cling to the ceiling with what looked to be just his finger-tips and the soles of his feet. His friend stared back with wide eyes, surprise and shock the only emotions swirling in his brown orbs.

Then... Peter gave a huge smile of complete blinding joy.

James wasn't really sure if that was good or bad but with the sudden warmth that had flooded his chest James was leaning towards good. Though, he had no idea why...

He moved with great flexibility, that no normal person would have unless they'd done years of training, as he let go of the ceiling and landed softly on his feet, position crouched. It wasn't until Peter stood to his full hight and swung his arms around the Soldiers torso to give him a warm hug did James finally let his brain identify that kind of movement. HYDRA had been interested in him as a new sort of asset with great flexibility and amazingly fast reflexes.

This was Spider-Man.

Peter Parker was Spider-Man.

Peter Parker was only 16 years old.

Spider-Man had been on the streets for over a year and a half...

Oh God!

Slightly numb, James let go of Stark, uncaring if the man ran away or not, and hugged the teen back. His chin gently resting in the kids nest of hair as he closed his eyes, soaking in the comfort and warmth of the child.

"It's okay." he murmured but he was unsure whether it was to himself or to the teenager in his arms, "I wont let anyone take you away..." and that was a promise.

At the impatient clearing of a throat, both spider enhanced human and super soldier looked to the current billionaire, his chest still exposed and hands tied forcefully behind his back. The billionaire rose an expectant eyebrow as he looked between the two, his face a perfect expression of unimpressed.

"Right," he said in an almost bored look, "Now can we sit down and talk about this like adults? Except you Spidey, you can talk like a child as your still underaged."

 

\----------

 

The time to right everything that James had wronged had actually taken longer than expected but that was mostly due to all the... _interruptions_...

When the whole thing was quickly explained by a shirtless Tony Stark (now complaining about his shoulders and his head and his wrists and his everything...), a conformation from Peter when he looked at the child to make sure and James was cutting Tony out of his tight bindings and making their way down to the floor that James had left the rest of the unconscious Avengers, James staying close to Peter's side the whole time and keeping a constant visual on Tony as the man talked loudly but the Soldier hardly understood any of it. James would have told the annoying man to shut up if it wasn't for the interested and content expression on his Peter's face (James didn't know how the teen could understand the long and technological words).

After they reached the common room, the others were just starting to wake up, with weak groans and sluggish attempts to stand up. Tony instantly went to the nearest control panel and turned on the lights and while everyone was squinting at the sudden brightness of the lights, faces slightly strained with the effort, James quickly cut their bindings before returning to Peter's side.

It was going well. Until the heroes of New York rose and got a proper look at him.

The spies were cautious and wary, taking a few steps back from him and looked him over incase he made any kind of move against them. Stark just looked bored of the entire situation but James could see the surprise in his eyes, the brown shade mach like Peter's if a shade or so darker. Stark was leaning against a white wall for support as he crossed his legs and folded his arms across his chest, directly in front of the blue light. The nonchalance was quickly replaced with shock as the American icon breathed one word.

"Bucky?"

James wasn't really sure what happened but one second the Captain was speeding towards him with open arms and a growing hopeful smile and the next, the Captain was on the floor, nursing a rapidly reddening cheek while looking up at him with such hurt eyes that James almost felt guilty. Almost. He'd positioned himself in front of Peter to protect him; powers or no powers, he was still a kid, and a friend too!

In a second flat, Peter was right in front of him, his hands on James' shoulders but the pressure didn't hurt and James found it a little comforting. Peter's expression was one of open alarm and worry. Then he moved his hands away and moved them in a purposeful and slightly hesitant way.

"Okay?" he signed before he pointed to James' chest to make sure he understood the clumsy sign.

James gave a slight nod before he turned his attention back on the other occupants of the room, they hadn't moved but the Captain kept sending James kicked-puppy-eyed glances and Stark was now standing next to his teammates.

"Why did you kidnap my friend?" James asked in a cold voice, devoid of all possible emotions.

Stark winced a little at the comment and had the decency to look slightly sheepish as he mumbled, "That would be my irrational decision on too little sleep and too emotionally drained."

The spy with blood red hair turned her jade green eyes to James' ice blue, her face as blank as his own, "We received a command to look after Peter. He has no more family and our Director didn't want to send a potential asset to the foster system so he ordered us to look after him. Unfortunately, upon Mr.Parkers arrival, we were expecting someone older and some of us didn't react so well to it." she concluded with a glance to Tony before she looked back to James and Peter. The latter glared, a soul trembling glare, in Stark's direction.

Tony looked down, shame and self-loathing rushing through his veins. Then, he took a step forward and looked Peter dead in the eye, "I'll admit: I acted like a complete dick when we first met. There's really no forgiving what I said to you but I'm so sorry. I didn't want to believe... I didn't want to believe that all this time, through that fucked up Lizard thing, your fight with Electro and the Green Goblin... I wanted to scare you away. I wanted you to go back to your home and be a normal kid while you still could. Hell, you haven't even finished High School yet! But I didn't know that you lost everyone. I thought I was scaring you back to your family but I was actually making you go back to nothing... And for that oversight, I am deeply sorry for my words and actions towards you. I hope, that over time, that you can forgive me..."

At his last words, the room echoed in the sudden silence. Everyone, except James, looked to the genius in shock and realisation which slowly came to understanding.

Peter could feel hot tears prick the corners of his eyes as he saw and heard the sincerity and honesty his secret role model was showing him. Peter's emotions were suddenly overflowed with relief and he pulled a bright smile to show his forgetfulness. But he wanted to say more. He needed to ask something.

His jerky movements drew quizzical glances from everyone and it wasn't until Peter motioned writing in the air did the archer of the group finally get it and scramble around for a pad and pencil.

Once he received it, Peter instantly wrote on the paper before displaying it for everyone.

"Can James stay?"

Childishly innocent brown eyes stared up at James, the question having a slight plead to the words and his expression. The super soldier's lips twitched slightly upwards and gave a subtle nod. There was no way he was going to leave his friend alone, especially if he'd only just gotten him back.

Just then, the elevator door opens after a light 'ping' and reveals one Sam Wilson with a small towel around the back of his neck and the front of his shirt near drenched with sweat; a sign of a good work out. Beside him was Bruce Banner with an empty mug in one hand and a stack of papers in the other, just coming out of his lab after a long day. They appeared to be talking as they wore bright smiles but the second they entered the living space the smiles vanished to shock.

Before them is the rest of the team, the spies cautious, Tony looking like he's trying to bring back his mental walls to hide his open emotions and Steve was looking at the strange man that kind of looked like a hobo with a metal arm (a very interesting metal arm that has Bruce's mind whirling with possibilities already. It's so gorgeous...) with the most killer puppy eyes. Though, it appears to have no physical affect to the other. And, lastly, they see Peter Parker trying to wipe away the tears while holding a pencil and paper at the crook of his elbow.

"What the hell happened here?" Sam asks with a hint of shock layering his tone.

Bruce takes one look at the situation before heaving a long-suffering sigh and going to the kitchen to get a hot cup of herbal tea. He had a feeling he was going to need it...

 

\----------

 

"So what your telling me," Sam interrupts the multiple parts of explanation from the rest of the team with constant interruptions and talking over one another, "Is that in the time that I've left to do a small work-out, you have had the power cut off, the systems hacked and become hostages before dealing with the hostile situation. Am I missing something?"

"The person that attacked us is going to live with us from now on." Tony supplied helpfully after he ate the piece of ice-cream on his spoon and pointed it to the huge scary man in leather combat clothes and a metal arm.

"Of course you did..." Sam sighs, he's not even surprised at this point. Sam often wonders about his quiet apartment back in D.C, how life was so much simpler and calmer back then. He'd met Steve through morning runs and had become good friends. When Steve had offered him a place on the team, he'd warned him that there would never be a dull moment while he was there. He never knew how serious his friend was until after it was too late and Tony Stark wanted to 'Keep him'.

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose as he thought over over his life choices.

Bruce looked at the man looked at Tony and then at Peter before he nodded and continued to drink his tea. He trusted Tony's judgment and if the Soldier was a danger to any of them, he wouldn't even consider allowing the Soldier to live with them. The Soldier looked quite smitten with Peter too and Bruce knew that they wouldn't be getting one without the other.

Throwing his hands in the air once again in exasperation, Sam makes a pointed glare to Tony, "Fine. He can stay but I want your lasagna with the secret ingredient to make it taste nice tonight!"

Tony rolled his eyes but the grin could not be hidden forever so he agrees before turning to the proper matters at hand.

"Right, I've got an idea about a story of the press," he looks at Steve and then Peter, "I'm not sure you'll like it..."

 After the explanation was finished, everyone thought that it was a good plan of action except James who showed no interest in their conversation and Peter who looked overwhelmed and shocked.

"So, we're going to say that you 'adopted' Peter and was picking the teen up because he sneaked out when he was grounded. Yeah, okay. I guess that would work. And Avengers already have custody of the adoption/custody papers sent by SHIELD so it's all good." Clint confirmed the obvious.

"It's up to Peter on whether or not he wants to be part of our family." Bruce calmly cut in with a smooth voice.

At this, everyone looked at Peter for his decision but all he could do was blink in shock at everyone. Peter had no idea what this would mean for his life; how drastically it could change. Would he have to change schools? Could he get his Aunt's favoured positions from storage? Could he still be Peter Parker, a nerdy quiet kid that keeps his head down and takes photographs? He needed to think... He needed to ask for advise. But he didn't know who to ask.

Just as Peter was about to write, a loud and sudden crack of thunder reverberated from the sudden storm, dark clouds looming over the towering buildings of New York. A loud thump from outside notified them of a presence Peter hadn't had the honour of meeting yet.

The God God of Thunder of finally here.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will try to finish this as fast as I can but right now, I have mock exams and college applications to deal with (that's right! I'm finally going to college this time next year! ;P)  
> I will update soon! I will not give this up until it is done...  
> NO STORY LEFT BEHIND!!!  
> See ya!


	11. The reason why Coulson is close to complete deafness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long but I've finally got my fingers going again and I really want to finish this story now, I'm so close!!  
> ENJOY my Spidey fans!!

Peter could do nothing but sit on the sofa and watch the chaos around him unfold in fits of shouting and cursing. He watched them all with a neutral expression when all he wanted to do was point and laugh at the scene before him. James remained hovering by Peter, refusing to sit down incase he was needed at any second to protect the small teen.

He had never thought he would ever meet a God of any sort. Even as a child, Peter had kept to his science, finding it a bit daft to believe in something when there were so little facts supporting the theory. Then the fiasco in New Mexico happened and then the Battle of New York which was evidence to everyone that they were not alone in the universe and that there was even a Realm of some kind that held near immortal beings that called themselves 'Gods'.

Still, Peter had little hope to ever meet one.

That was until today...

Standing before him, clothed in metal and a red cape that swayed at his ankles, was Thor the God of Thunder. Though the huge blond had the muscular arms, the gloriously long golden blond hair and sky blue eyes (the man sure was a looker), he didn't really act all high and mighty at the moment. Right now, he held up his hands, his face holding a wince of sympathy and guilt as he stood in front of his bother as a protective barrier from the trigger-happy and suddenly violent Avengers. Yes. That's right. Loki, the God of Mischief that tried to take over the world a few years back, was standing with a completely bored expression as he looked at his perfectly clipped and polished nails in all his green armoured glory.

"My Shield-Bothers and Sister, allow me to explain." Thor pleaded with the hostile Avengers.

The Avengers meanwhile, had about all of their weapons aimed at the green armoured God with narrowed eyes and steady hands. The archer, Hawkeye, seemed especially hateful of the God, sending him cold glares filled with hatred and distrust. It was quite obvious to Peter that the two had a bit of a history. His theory only solidified when Loki glanced at the archer and winked; Clint answered it with a bone chilling glare that would have killed any man ten times over... Peter never said it was a good history...

"SHIELD isn't going to be happy about this." stated Natasha as she stared impassively at the Godly duo.

Peter could defiantly see this as a huge problem to SHIELD and the general public (but more SHIELD though, they seemed really pissed that it took them so long to find out Peter's secret identity so they wouldn't take it kindly to not know this straight away...). Last time Loki was on Earth, he had planned a large scale invasion and destroyed half of New York with an alien portal. It had all been very graphic and Peter was only able to watch as buildings exploded and people died on TV all the way in California as he and his Aunt had been in the middle of visiting some of his Aunt May's old friends. He could defiantly see why the Avengers were so antsy around the God; James was too if the sudden gun in his hand was anything to go by. The public would not be happy that the crazy God was back on their planet...

"Friends, you must understand!" Thor pleaded again, "Loki has faced Asgardian justice and it is the will of the All-Father that Loki has been sent here. I am his watcher for the time he is here and his task is to help the people of Midgard and redeem himself by fighting alongside us."

The silence was damning as everyone watched the pair with narrowed eyes filled with suspicion and disbelief but it wasn't until Thor showed them all the most soul crushing kicked puppy look with baby blue eyes shining at them did they all groan and lower their weapons just a little.

"Thor," Tony groaned in exasperation, "Your brother can't be here. The public still hates him and if they ever found out that he was on Earth again... I don't even know what would happen! An angry mob maybe?"

"I am sorry my friends but the All-Father's word is law among the Nine Realms and you are no exception..." Thor said with as much sympathy in his voice as possible.

Defeat was noticeable by the silence that filtered through the room making Peter shift in the uncomfortable atmosphere. It was times like these that Peter really wished for his voice back. If he still had it, he'd be able to make some kind of witty comment or point out that Loki sounds like he's been put on Community Service for the Nine-Realms. Just thinking about it now made Peter smile a little.

"I see that you have a few new members to your petty forces," Loki suddenly sneered, making Peter look up into jade green eyes, "Though, I wouldn't have thought that you would allow someone so young to fight the battle for many. He is but a child in the ranks of men."

Peter couldn't help but frown a little bit at the mocking tone the God directed at him. Ignorant much? Peter couldn't really find it in himself to be totally offended, throughout his whole life he's been diminished or doubted in some way; for his intelligence or his claims, it didn't matter. With a soft snort of laughter and a shake of his head, Peter sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. This was none of his business. It stopped being his business the minute he stopped being Spider-Man.

"Stay away from Peter." James growled as he stepped in front of Peter to block him out of view.

"Ah, I see we have new comrades to be acquainted with!" Thor boomed with a beaming smile, "Greetings! I am Thor, God of Thunder! This is my brother Loki, God of Mischief! May I ask what your given names are?"

James stood there, staring down the Gods with cold calculating eyes, gun still in hand but with with safety off and finger settled on the trigger- scary... Seconds dragged by into minutes and still he didn't speak or move. It looked like he wasn't going to say anything so Peter picked up his pad and started to write.

"Sorry about him. He's just a little shy around strangers. My name's Peter Parker and this is my friend James, nice to meet you!" Peter showed them with a pleasant smile, if only a little strained, as Tony read out the message to everyone, "We have to go pick up some stuff and then we'll be back, okay?"

No one really had any time to respond as Peter threw the pad at the group randomly, grabbed James' hand and jumped out the window. Hanging onto the side of the glass building with one hand and holding James with the other, Peter grinned down at him. He felt a swell of warmth when James returned it with a twitch of his lips.

They both needed to talk about this back at the station. If they both wanted to move in with the Avengers, then they needed to pack a few things. But they really needed to talk...

 

\-----

 

"Did he just jump out the window?" Sam asked after several minutes of astounded silence.

It was that comment that broke everyone else from their shock, well, except Loki; he looked kind of amused with the whole situation.

"JARVIS?" Tony asked his AI.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but Mr.Parker has left the building." was the robotic reply, though it sounded more amused than it should be for a computer program. Tony could only sigh in exasperation at the AI's reply.

"Great. We'll just have to wait and see. If we go after them now, it would look like we're not listening or respecting his wishes and to be honest, they still don't remotely trust us..." Tony explained as he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed before he slopped on the sofa Peter had occupied before, with absolutely no grace what so ever.

"I do not understand," Thor stated with his confused puppy look, "Why did Friend Peter write his words and not speak them?"

At this, the rest of the Avengers looked slightly pained. They had all lived through shit and had gone through way worse things than Peter had but what had happened to him and how they had first treated him wasn't a field full of dandelions either...

Before any of them could talk, a ding form the elevator and the sliding of doors, made them all freeze. Only a handful of people could come through those doors excluding everyone currently there. Those people counted to about six: Agent Hill, Fury, Rhodey, Coulson and Pepper Potts... None of those options were good right now.

Stepping out of the elevator with a blank face and empty eyes, completely devoid of emotions, was Phil Coulson, the one and only. His eyes swept over the area, taking in everything and assessing the situation; he didn't even pause at the sight of the God of Mischief or Thor being back at the Tower after a few months of absence. There was a tense silence as he did this and even Loki found himself tensing slightly under the empty gaze.

He spoke to Loki first, "Director Fury would like to speak to you in the morning and he'd like to let you know that one wrong move will get you moved to a Hulk room for a full month. Thor, welcome back to Earth. Agent Romanov, Agent Barton, your scheduled for another mission in a week. Mr.Stark, the Director has expressed his need for your expertise on some incepted files that some SHIELD Agents had found in an old HYDRA base. I assume that you would like some debriefing on Mr.Parker as I saw him on the side of the building before jumping away."

Everyone stood to attention when Coulson addressed them and Loki couldn't help but understand why the group was so upset when they heard of the man's 'death' at the time of the invasion that he had been forced into...

"Yes, I would like to know why there is a child fighting for your cause?" Loki asked with a slight sneer to his voice. He may view certain things differently from the average person but with children, his views had never changed over his long life. Children were to be protected not pushed into fighting.

"Peter is a special situation. He has an alter-ego by the name of Spider-Man that had been classed as a vigilante for about a year and a half. He fought on the streets every night. He's stopped hundreds of potential rapes, muggings, assaults, murders and some bank robberies. He fights for the small people of New York but as a recent development, Peter has no remaining living relatives and in his last relative's death, he was shot through the throat which would have killed him if he hadn't have been genetically enhanced but it had left him mute and homeless; too young to live on his own or inherit anything that had been left to him yet. We brought him into SHIELD so that we could train him, offer him back up and help him heal and get over the death of his entire family so that he could live past the age of 20. We're giving him a better chance of survival and if he wants to stay here then he can and he will."

The force of finality from the impassive Agent had the two Gods rapidly nodding in agreement, it was like their mother when she was secretly angry with them... Thor nor Loki could suppress the shiver from the last time she got truly mad at them. It hadn't been a pleasant experience...

"What of the other?" Thor asked with a confused frown which Coulson answered with his own before he looked to the Avengers who wouldn't meet his eyes.

Steve was the only one brave enough to speak about it and started his answer with a bone tired sigh, "We found Peter... as you probably saw on the news... But we weren't informed of the friend or friends that he keeps around and, well, one of them came to help Peter, thinking the worst..."

Coulson sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, nothing was ever simple with this group... "And who was this 'friend' of his?"

The answer he got made him freeze, an icy fear spreading over his chest. They had faced the man before and the agents that met him were lucky to be alive... "The Winter Soldier." How a kid was able to befriend a high class and deadly assassin was beyond Coulson but Peter seemed to be full of surprises...

"...We know who he is..." Steve whispered, his expression solemn and the hurt was clear in his voice as he tried to keep the tears from falling, "His name is James Buchanan Barnes, my childhood friend..."

At that moment, Coulson was pretty sure his brain turned itself off for moment. How the hell was that possible?!

After a couple of minutes, Coulson sighed once again and pulled out his phone once again. After this was all over, he was going to have to have his hearing checked to see if there was any lasting damage to Fury screaming at him down the phone...

"Sir, there has been a slight development..."

" _What the hell is it now!!_ "

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Till next time!


	12. All will be revealed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay!! I did it!

They were at their base in no time as they were able to keep up with each other and jumping from one roof to another was something that both of them were extremely adapted to. One could tell that they were only slightly out of breath by the deep, controlled breathing they were doing to slow their heart rate as they stared at each other.

Silence driftend between them like an old friend that had James relaxing slightly for the first time in hours and Peter slumping over one of the uncomfortable train chairs. They both had some explaining to do but the friendship they had developed over just a couple of days was still there and Peter was grateful for that.

Peter went first, grabbing a discarded piece of paper to use, "Did you really mean it?"

"Mean what?" came the oddly soft response for a man that seemed so incredibly dangerous.

"Would you have really have stayed with me if I had wanted to stay at the Tower?"

The pause between them was completely agonising for Peter and it was something he'd only felt when he first tried to ask Gwen out on a date but Peter had no romantic interest in James- he just really wanted the man to stay with him. And after everything and everyone he's lost, he just wanted James to be a permanent fixture in his life and he didn't want the man to reject him after he'd gotten so attached...

"Yes." came the slow and carefully thought out answer that had Peter smiling slightly and writing a small 'thank you' to him, "Are you Spider-Man?" When Peter gave a timid nod, he asked, "How?"

Peter thought about it. He had to think about the Lizard Attack, Dr.Connors and his innocent want for two arms. Thought back to Captain Stacy (God, that seemed like a whole life time ago...) and the lab of spiders in OSCORP that he had been too stupid to avoid, his burning desire for knowledge combined with curiosity leading him to what he was today. He thought of the good and the bad, his past stupidity and his selfish start...

He looked back up at James, seeing the cool collected ice blue eyes. They weren't judging or criticising for not telling him in the first place. If anything he looked interested and respectful of any choice he made. Letting Peter know that he wouldn't press for information and that it wasn't an interrogation. It was silence for a few minutes before Peter found himself breaking for the first time in over a year.

Tears filled his eyes as he thought of his past mistakes and what he'd done. He wanted his family back. He wanted Gwen and Harry and he wanted to go down to the corner store and buy the milk and eggs that Aunt May needed for her meatloaf that weekend. A silent sob made it's way out of his mouth as hot tears streamed down his face. When a warm body sat next to him, putting an arm around his shoulders and allowing him to tuck his head under their chin, Peter really let it all out. Sobs shaking his frame and hands fisted tightly into James' black shirt underneath the leather jacket.

He would tell this man everything but right now he needed a hug and he needed to cry...

 

\-----

 

Fury didn't have nearly as many fingers to count the times where he'd had to yell at the group of super-powered, crime fighting, adults for being so _stupid_! He didn't understand how the hell these people got into so much trouble. They were admirable fighters, they got the job done and their bond as a team would be comparable to a family unit more than friends. They cared for each other and they lived together, all of them contributing to the team in different and affective ways that made them to be a force to be reckoned with. Sometimes, Fury thought that the Avengers was one of his greatest projects that he had created.

However, there were times when he felt that he should kill them all or lock them up for the greater good. Paper-work had always been hard but some of the stuff they got mixed up in was ridiculous! Ultimate paintball fights? Prank Wars? StarWars Day with real lightsabers?! The public seemed to love it for some reason. They loved the fact that their heroes were acting as a family and doing... odd things. They liked they fact that it made them look more human compared to their stern faces at live conferences or the power they show when they fight together. It was good to have some public love... but they were just too much to deal with sometimes... Like right now.

"So your telling me... that you found Peter doing his shopping among the civilians, went there in your Iron Man suit and kidnapped him?! Then you get taken down by the Winter Soldier who happens to be best buds with Peter and then you let them both get away! And what the fuck is Loki doing here Thor?!" Yep... Way too much to deal with.

"It is the word of the All-Father-"

"Does it look like I give a shit what Daddy says? Because I don't. We can't have Loki here. The public would destroy him and he'd be put in a high class prison before I could say 'motherfucker' if they ever found out!"

Everyone flinched at the sound of fury in Fury's tone of voice, even Loki looked a little stiff as he tried to casually look at his finger nails not wanting to see the scary image of spit flying out of the angry Director's mouth and the vein that noticeably bulged out of his head. Loki couldn't help the small amused snort as he heard Stark mutter, "Shouldn't have bought HD TVs." It was a mistake when the furious Director's one eye focused on him and he had to force himself not to look away at the slightly crazed look in them.

"And what are you laughing at you stupid-ass motherfucker!!" Fury practically screamed.

Loki's response of "Nothing. Nothing." was slightly too fast to be casual and couldn't stop the wince when raised eye-brows and amused smirks were shot his way by the whole Avengers team.

"Why are you not in jail?! You tried to invade us and kill us all in one day!" Fury shouted in confusion, the man appearing on the edge of insanity.

Loki had a response ready, though a little more exaggerated and a little sarcasm tossed in there for fun when Thor interrupted, "Loki was considered innocent for the faked invasion on your planet. Though the source of the one controlling his mind at the time is still unknown, he was in the right mind enough for us to be able to stop him from doing more harm than necessary. His punishment from the All-Father is that of trying to destroy Jotunheim while he was king. He is far too young to go to prison on Asgard so Father had to find a suitable punishment."

Everyone stared at Thor in shock before they turned to a red faced Loki.

Fury coughed as he asked, "Thor, how old are you and Loki?" while Coulson mouthed the word, "Fake" with a confused frown.

"I am one thousand and--"

"In mortal age." Fury stated drily.

Thor thought about it, doing the math in his head and comping to a conclusion, "I am about 23 to 24 of age equivalent to mortals. Loki is 17 to 18 years of age. Why do you ask so?"

Everyone stared at the younger than expected Gods with widening eyes. Then Clint yelled, throwing his arms towards Loki at the end of the line, narrowly missing Tony's face, "We were fighting a kid this entire time?!"

"I AM NO CHILD!!" Loki yelled.

"Your mortal age says differently," Tony deadpanned, before he clicked his fingers and pointed to the God in question, "You'd be great for Peter, he's only 16."

"I am a God you fool!" Loki cried.

"Now that I think about it, he does seem like he threw loads of tantrums during the invasion..." Clint murmured as he tilted his head to the side in thought.

"Enough!" Fury yelled and everyone shut up with a collective click of their jaws. He sighed as he wiped a hand over his face, "Fine... We'll come up with a story. Thor, do you have any evidence that we can used other than yours or the All-Fathers words, I needed physical evidence for the public and media. Until we have that, do not, I repeat, DO NOT leave Stark's tower or reveal yourself to the public. If you do, your on your own... Stark, I want you in by the end of the week to decipher those files. I also expect you to come up with a story for the fuck up you made by kidnapping a minor on the fucking streets of New York!" he started screaming again.

Tony had the decency to wince at the volume of the Director before he replied a quick, "Yep. Got one. On it."

"If the Winter Soldier comes by, do not engage. He is highly dangerous and if he really only cares about Peter then you just leave him be. Do not start a fight with him and do not interrogate him in any shape or form. If he looks to be making a bad move, intercept but otherwise, leave him be and try to get him to stay for as long as possible. If there's anything to go by he'll stay by Parker's side." he then sighed as he said, "Don't get into any more trouble." before he turned it off.

Fury groaned as he at back in his chair. He really hoped that they would stay out of trouble long enough for him to catch some decent sleep. Knowing them, he probably wouldn't...

 

\-----

 

It was the middle of the night when Tony went down the stairs after waking up screaming and fighting with his covers. He didn't have as many nightmares as he used to, only some popping up now and then at odd times or because of triggers. This time, he had a dream about the Battle of New York, talking to Loki with his Stick of Destiny. He was thrown out the window by a man holding his throat and all he can see is blue-blue eyes of the raven haired God, the suit didn't come for him that time and he woke up before he hit the ground, the feeling of falling jumping in his stomach even after he woke up.

He'd have to check out the footage with JARVIS because the Dream Loki had blue eyes while Real Loki had green...

He was startled out of reality when a warm hand slid over his bare shoulder, making him drop the coffee he'd made and drank half of without noticing. The loud smash was ignored as he gripped the hand and turned around, fist held up to punch the intruder but was stopped at the sight of Steve standing there with a concerned expression on his face.

Tony played it off as he put a hand on his heart and breathed deeply before forcing a small grin to his face, "Damn Cap, your gonna give me a heart attack if you keep sneaking up on me."

At Steve's doubtful frown, Tony knew he was going to have to try harder than that, "I called you several times but you didn't answer."

Crap. "Yeah, sorry Cap!" he said with a smile and a clap on the Super Soldier's large shoulder, "Got in the zone. Was thinking about inventions and all that." Tony flippantly explained as he waved his hand.

They stood there for a moment, Steve staring with narrowed eyes, searching for the lie while Tony tried to keep up his mask long enough to get away. It seemed Tony had won that round as Steve let go of his shoulder and moved out of Tony's personal bubble.

"What are you doing up this late anyway?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Tony deadpanned.

Steve made a face as he mumbled, "You know what I mean."

Forcing himself to relax as he reached for another mug and filled it with steaming coffee.

He'd nearly finished his coffee and was about to go look for a dustpan and brush to clean up the mess on the floor when Steve spoke again, his voice soft in the dead of night, "I think you handled the situation well. When you found Peter again. On the roof." he clarified at Tony's confused gaze.

"...Thanks." Tony said, trying to sound offhanded as a weird and sudden burst of warmth erupted from his chest, he wasn't having a heart attack, was he? "You were pretty good too."

They were quiet again, friendly smiles in place as an awkward air grew between them. Tony felt like saying some kind of joke to fill in the silence when Steve spoke up once again, "You know it's not your fault. Fury didn't give us a full report so we had no information or awareness of Peter's situation. We all know that you had the best intentions for him..."

Tony sighed as he listened to the excuses that Steve was making for him. That's all they were, excuses. He put up his hand to stop the babble coming out of Steve mouth, the man having gone on to how giving and considerate Tony was being, "Stop. Just stop making excuses for what I did. What's done is done and no matter how good my intentions were or what I thought of the situation, he still got hurt to the point where he was willing to jump off the tower just to get away from me. This just proves everyone right; I don't think before I open my mouth and I'm selfish and I'm a narcissist--"

He was suddenly cut off by warm hands on his face. Completely stilled by the sudden contact, Tony then extremely aware of how close Steve had gotten; the man less than two inches from his own face. Tony's sight was filled with baby blue eyes shining with concern and... something else Tony couldn't name.

"No. You are none of those things. You hear me? You are the most intelligent, kind and magnificent man I know. Tony you are so incredible; you don't even know how incredible you are. You've saved countless lives even before the Avengers. You work day and night for your company and sorting out paper work that even Pepper found too hard too do. When I finally got to know the real you, I couldn't stop myself from thinking..."

Steve trailed off and Tony didn't dare move from the comforting warmth of the other man's hands, his thumb gently rubbing the edge of his jaw. He saw the look in Steve's eyes and as Tony's stomach did a small flip, he bit his bottom lip.

"Thinking what, Steve?" Tony asked softly as he gaze into Steve's dreamy blue eyes.

He didn't even realise that they had gotten closer until Steve's lips were pressing to his own, feather light and barely there. Tony didn't pull away. This gave Steve more confidence as he pushed a little harder. Tony soon came out of his shock but instead of pushing away, he melted into it with a hum and eyes gently closing. God, he hadn't realised how much he wanted this...

A sudden gasp had both superheroes jumping away from each other and turning towards the intruder. Clint stood there in his old white t-shirt that couldn't really be considered white anymore and baby blue ducky pyjama trousers with an empty glass in his hand. He looked back and forth between the two men whose faces were growing hotter and hotter with every passing second that the archer looked at them.

"Damnit!" he suddenly yelled before lowering his voice again to a mumble, "Now I owe Nat 30 bucks..."

With that, he walked back to his room, still grumbling and pouting pitifully as he went, leaving the two men to try the kiss again...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AWWWW! It's so cute! Finally I've established the Tony/Steve relationship!!
> 
> To be continued...


	13. Pictures on the walls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Sup...  
> Here's another one anyway!!

It was early morning at the Avengers Tower and all was silent and peaceful on the streets of New York with a beautiful sunrise staining the glass skyscrapers a gentle orange. Not that the occupants on the top floors of Avengers Tower would know as their mornings were usually too chaotic and eventful to watch anything that moved as slow as the sun.

The day, as usual, started with Steve getting up at the crack of dawn, putting on his running shoes and going for a 'jog' as he calls it; Sam trailing behind him yelling at him and panting that he's running as fast as a speeding car.

In the time that he and Sam are gone, Bruce is up and out of bed, hair messed up and tired eyes only just open enough to waddle over to the common kitchen. After he's had his first herbal tea, he starts to wake up and prepare some kind of breakfast for the whole team. He never has to worry about the ingredients needed because nine times out of ten, in the huge space Tony calls a normal kitchen, it's there. He starts up with simple things such as scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and starts to prepare the coffee machine for the several coffee lovers in the tower.

As Bruce was finishing up with the huge but necessary portions of simple breakfast foods, Natasha and Clint comes in, fully clothed and wide awake. They say that it was a spy thing and that they'd been through several missions where they've had to jump out of bed and made themselves wide wake so that they wouldn't die. Clint just went to the breakfast bar and put his head down from his late night of video gaming, Natasha gave him his morning coffee as she knew he'd never be able to function without it. He was an awful cook and would always burn the food or accidentally give the team raw potatoes (no one knew how Clint could give them raw potatoes and do it as a literal accident- no pranks included) so he was band from all cooking appliances.

Natasha was generally a good cook (she was better with the alcohol based meals) and would help out with the cooking now and then in the kitchen, she made pancakes, waffles and sausages for everyone and as a special treat, she also made them all a selection of muffins. She and Bruce were great together in the kitchen, dancing around each other and giving over ingredients before either had asked for it. They set the different foods along the kitchen sides on large platters for everyone to serve themselves with and then they made sure to put a large amount of pop tarts for Thor (the god loved the stuff so much, it was scary).

Next to walk in through the door was Thor and Loki. Thor looked as fabulous as ever with neatly brushed hair and sure movements to show his eagerness for the day ahead. Loki was the complete opposite, his hair was knotted and pointing in all directions and bared feet shuffling against the floor before he sat down heavily at the end of the table where he promptly fell back to sleep while his brother claimed that pop tarts were a food fit for Gods rather loudly unaware of his brother's sleeping state. It was a very odd view to the manic expression that was on the God's face when they all first met...

Next to walk in was Sam fresh back from his jog (cough cough* frantic run *cough) and piles his plate with all it's early morning goodness and starts to eat one whole section at a time (the team discovered that the pilot did not mix his foods).

Tony and Steve entered at the same time, Steve pushing the door open for Tony as they walked in through the door. They promptly stopped dead in their tracks at the loud wolf-wissle from Clint which made Steve blush bright red while Tony just rolled his eyes and Loki snorted awake.

"So how are you on this fine morning?" Clint asked as he wiggled his eye-brows at them.

"Shut up Barton or get out my building." Tony mumbled as he gave Steve a plate and started to fill up his own.

"You wouldn't do that to me," he said with tears in his eyes and interlinked fingers tucked under his chin, "I'm too adorable to kick out and Fury would bother you too because I'll reck havoc at the base and he'd call you everyday to beg you to take me back." his face was less innocent now as it morphed into a cruel smirk, "You'll never get rid of me, Stark. Never! MUHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

The kitchen was quiet as everyone just stared at Clint with deadpanned stares or raised eye brows, "Are you done? Or do I have to listen to the chicken squawk about for an extra hour?"

"Hey! It's 'Hawk' not 'Chicken'!" Clint corrected.

"Oh, I beg to differ." Tony laughed as he sat down opposite Clint.

The meal continued so, laughter and chatter passing between them easily (well, except Loki who just stared at the heroes with an expression that suggested he was close to his death), it wan't until the end of their meal did Natasha give a cruel smirk in Tony and Steve's direction did Tony know that something bad was about to happen.

"Did you and Steve have sex last night?" _there_ it is!

Tony only stared impassively at her as he had a mental break down, he pushed away the blush and gave her a deadpanned look. She would take no pleasure in bringing a reaction out of him. Steve, on the other hand, didn't do so well as he spluttered and choked on the water he was drinking, face turning to a bright red flush that threatened to travel down to his neck.

"No." Tony said forcefully as he gave the ex-assassin his best glare (he knew it would have no effect but he had to try), "We did not have sex. Why do you even know about this anyway?!"

"A little birdie told me." she said with a smirk.

All eyes turned to Clint who had the decency to act sheepish. Key word being 'act'...

He shrugged his shoulders, trying and failing to fight off a shit-eating grin, "What? You expect me not to tell anyone that you were getting hot and heavy right there," he pointed to where Loki was currently sitting. Loki turned to them, with a completely disgusted look on his face as he quickly moved to stand.

"We were not getting 'hot and heavy', it was an innocent kiss" Tony interjected loudly, trying his best to stop the amusement from entering his voice at the sight of Steve putting his face in his hands, his face now a practical beacon of red light.

Apparently Clint had found it funny too as he didn't stop, " _Oh_ , if shoving your tongues down each others throats is _innocent_ then yeah, I guess your right." he cackled before running out the room, Tony hot on his heels with an empty mug in hand.

"Come 'ere you chicken!!"

"NOOOO!!"

Everyone stared at the door the eccentric pair had run out of until the screams, shouts and crashing grew fainter and then they turned back to their meals.

"Is this normal?" Loki asked after getting no explanation for the odd behaviour.

"Here? Yes. On Earth in general? Absolutely not." Sam said with so much regret and pain that it could only be real, "They're all just crazy..."

No one said anything after that and Loki was left to look around him, a slightly fearful expression on his face as he mumbled, "What has the All-Father forsaken me to..."

 

\-----

 

The halls of Midtown High while school was already in process was weird. Of all the days he's been forced to go to school to be among the brain-dead and dreary, it's always been packed with students, moving and weaving around each other as they try to get to class. Right now, there was no one. Empty hallways with the students hidden away in their classes.

Walking down the hallways to the lockers was loud in Peter's ears; his foot steps squeaking and echoing. No crowds of people talking loudly or crashing into the lockers to drown out the small noises such as walking. 

The place also felt cold; no movement or people warming up the place or distracting him from the cold that could have always been there.

Peter shook it off, closing his eyes to the onslaught of memories the halls brought up, reminding him of everything that's changed and everything that's stayed the same. Taking long strides, Peter hurried over to his locker and put in his combination on the lock before wrenching it open. He didn't want to stay here longer than he had to...

James and Peter had discussed this yesterday after their small get-away from the Avengers Tower. They had made a decision and Peter just knew that he wouldn't be going to the same school ever again. He couldn't go here again, remembering all the good and bad memories of the place and reminding him of what he had then and what he's lost. All he knew was that if he ever did want to go back to school, he wasn't going to come back here.

The inside of his locker was like any other. It was just big enough to cram all of his books in there and underneath the wallpaper of coloured stickers (he had no idea where those had come from as he hadn't put any in there himself) was cold, metallic grey walls.

As fast as he could, Peter packed all of the books his uncle and aunt had worked so hard to buy for him. Most of them were second handed and had been scribbled on by past owners or had beaten covers with some missing pages in-between. He also picked up his present that his Uncle had given him for his last birthday before he died, it was a book written by his father on his scientific theories and such. On the last page, he'd wrote about his belief in contributing to the world and that if you had something good to offer then it was your responsibility to do so. Peter had spent days in awe, rereading the last page of great wisdom of his father and he couldn't help but feel like it was aimed at Peter himself.

After the books had been taken and stuffed into his bag, the book by his father more gently done than the others, he moved onto the decorations he'd put up on the walls. This time, he took more time to look at each of them.

The decorations were none other than pictures, some he'd taken himself and others he hadn't. He'd taken great pride in his pictures and the memories that came with them. The first to be taken down was of him and his parents, his youthful face showing a bright grin as he held up all of his 'Monopoly' money he'd won while his father and mother, held hands, looking at each other adoringly. When Peter had found that in the attic clean-out, he couldn't help but be astounded in clear way that they loved each other, he could see it in their eyes, in their small smile to each other as they watched their child's amazement. Out of all the ones he found, he though that this one was the best.

Another photo was of him and Harry Osborn with big childish smiles on their faces, mud-stained trousers rolled up to their knees and Harry holding out his tooth that had came out from when Peter had accidentally elbowed him in the face. Mr.Osborn in the background, pulling a funny face; that was an achievement in itself as it had been very hard to ever make Mr.Osborn laugh or do silly things even back then.

The third and forth was of the whole family together, his aunt and uncle as well as his parents and himself, crowding around a birthday cake, with the candles still lit and Peter in the middle of trying to blow them out. The next photo was the same but with bits of cake lining the walls and icing in their hair and over their face, laughing with tears in their eyes. He'd been told by his aunt that his dad had put something in the candles to make them stay alight even after Peter had blown them but something had gone wrong and it had caused a mini explosion that had sent cake everywhere. Peter couldn't help the huff of a laugh at the vague memory.

A picture of his Aunt May and his Uncle Ben, hands intwined together. Peter had taken the photo, he'd caught them in the perfect light and they hadn't been expecting the photo so the smiles were gentle and real and they way they looked at each other was like how his mum and dad had looked at each other before their untimely death.

The last picture was of Gwen. Her blonde hair flicked over her shoulder as she looked back at him, cheeky smile stretching her soft pink lips. She looked beautiful and he had never failed to tell her that. He remembered the first time she saw it in his locker, hung up next to his parents, she had asked why she was up with them and Peter had said that all his loved ones go up on his locker walls. She had blushed so hard after that, Peter couldn't stop laughing about it until they had gotten into class and he had been told to quiet down.

Blinking back tears from his eyes, Peter Carefully placed the pictures in his bag before he closed the locker and walked down the hallway towards the front doors to the school. He was almost out when a voice called out to him.

"Parker?! where've you been? Everybody's been sayin' that you ran away or somethin'..." Flash Thompson's voice called out from behind him.

Slowly, and reluctantly, Peter turned around to face his ex-bully. Flash now had a concerned frown on his face as he regarded Peter's pale complexion and the dark circles surrounding his red-rimmed eyes. He looked awful and there was no way Peter could play it off.

"You alright? You don't look too good." he stated, stopping short of a few feet away from Peter; they weren't friends so this was as close as they were both comfortable with. Peter just shrugged in response, he couldn't really do anything else...

"Where you heading anyway?" Flash asked, slightly tentative.

In response, Peter pulled out a spare piece of paper in his bag and wrote a small message. He folded the piece of paper once over before handing it to Flash with a small smile, clasped him on the shoulder before he turned around and left the school grounds without another backwards glance.

Flash couldn't help the spike of empathy at Peter's retreating back. He couldn't imagine loosing everything that Peter had; his whole family and his girlfriend. With caution, Flash opened up the piece of paper and read the contents.

_"I'll see ya around"_

He folded it back up and put it in his pocket for safe keeping and breathed a "Good luck." before he started to return back to his class.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.... What ya think?


	14. Hungry Peter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I remember a request a while back asking for a hungry Peter and this is me finally delivering! Hope you like and enjoy it!  
> This is the second to last chapter that I'm writing so you have been warned!

It was early morning when Bruce walked into the kitchen to do his daily cooking. He let loose a jaw cracking yawn as he stretched his arms over his head and the pop to his back was rather pleasant. With his eyes a little more open and his awareness sinking in, he could only freeze at the sight of the kitchen...

Everywhere he looked was a complete mess. Empty and half empty packets of food products were thrown or placed on every inch of the kitchen sides, flour covering the majority of the surface as well as sugar and, for some reason or another, there were pieces of sliced ham here and there. Crumbs and half eaten crackers were added to the pile and on the oven, the boiling water was spilling over the floor.

In the middle of all the chaos was a completely calm Peter Parker putting a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies onto a tray that had been piled high with other backed or cooked goods and packets of the chocolate pop tarts that Thor loved to eat so much. His eyes went back to the boy as he caught Peter eating a flour covered slice of ham while filling his tray.

Bruce then caught the sight of the Winter Soldier clothed in a large hoodie and ripped jeans, his arms folded and feet spread shoulder width apart. His face was carefully blank but the longer he looked at the teen, the more the mask started to slip into slight shock and disgust at the amount and what the boy was eating. Even Bruce had to say that it was a pretty impressive amount and he lived with a Super Soldier and they ate tons of food at a time!

After Peter had put the last of the cookies in the basket, he started to clean up and Bruce was, once again, impressed to say that it was with quick efficiency. The teen wiped down every surface and threw away all the empty wrappers and put foil around all the ones he was finished with- which weren't many... He even put all the clean dishes in the dishwasher away and filled it up with his own dirty washing before putting it on. The things he couldn't put in the dishwasher, he put in the sink and left it to soak. In about ten minutes, the kitchen was spotless as it had been before.

Picking up his tray, near overflowing with food, Peter walked out the kitchen but not without a polite wave and smile to Bruce. The Winter Soldier not long after left to follow the teen but not before he gave Bruce a warning glare that had the Other Guy growling from within. The guy sure was scary...

It took another minute for Bruce to shake himself out of it and walk farther into the kitchen. He prepared his scrambled eggs and his toast, though half of the whole packet was gone, and he only had a bit of bacon to work with. By the time he'd finished the breakfast, there was enough but not so much that they would have left overs or could eat to all their hearts content.

Natasha had found that she couldn't make any muffins today as there was hardly any to do so and there was only just enough to make a pancake for each person. Some fruit was cut up as to help with the loss of cooked and baked goods but all the berries were gone and so were most of the bananas.

Bruce was stirring a mixture in a bowl when Clint came in and opened the fridge door only to reel back in hurt and shock at the sight before him.

"Where's all the fucking food?!" he then seemed to break down into pitiful whimpers as he threw himself at Bruce and started to cling off of his clothes, near lying on the tiled floor. The 'sobbing' man was hanging off of his trousers and Bruce had to quickly out down the bowl to stop them from being pulled down. "B-Bruce, th-there's no last-night-pizza! Someone stole it! What am I gonna do! That pizza was the only thing that could ever get me up in the mornings!!"

"C-Clint, can you let go of me?" Bruce asked while he stared down at the crying assassin and had to wonder how the hell he ever got _that_ job...

"I remember our last time together like it was just yesterday... She was so beautiful with all her curves and she gave us so much happiness! Why Bruce?! Why!?" Clint continued to cry with tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. All Bruce could think was that this was going to be the first time he'd ever seen a full grown man cry over pizza.

He looked to Natasha with pleading eyes but she could only look at her partner with an expression between exasperation and disappointment while she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Clint, get over it or I'm going to ask Tony to close all the vents for a week..." Natasha stated in a mono-tonned voice.

Clint looked at her with narrowed eyes and stony expression, "You wouldn't dare..."

Natasha answered the glare with one of her own, albeit more impressive and scarier than Clint's own, "You think I wouldn't?"

Seconds ticked by before Clint finally shot up straight, tears no where to be seen and lips pulled into a large smile, "Okay I give. But I guess all of SHIELD is going to find out that you sing in the shower~" and then bolted with Natasha hot on his heels, gun and knife in hand.

Bruce stared after them for a couple of minutes wincing slightly every time a gun shot went off. Tony was not going to be very happy about that...

"Why is every morning meal filled with one chasing another with deadly intent?" Loki suddenly asked from the doorway of the kitchen.

"Don't worry," Bruce said easily with a wave of his hand, "In a week or so, you'll find that It's usually Clint or Tony involved with the murderer's intent..."

"Ah..." was all Loki could say in reply before an awkward silence settled between the pair.

They hadn't really hang out on their own since Loki had gotten here. Sure, it was a couple of days ago but people had instantly started to ease up when his real age was revealed and when Tony showed them a video of Loki's eyes during the invasion. Coulson was still alive so he was in most of the team's good books anyway. Bruce had nothing against Loki, that was more the Other Guy than Bruce, and he tended to avoid people he didn't really know at first...

"Would you like any help?" Loki asked, forcing Bruce out of his wonderings.

"You cook?" Bruce asked in mild surprise which caused the Asgardian to frown slightly.

"Why wouldn't I? Do you think me incapable?" he asked pleasantly with a sharp edge to his voice. Bruce should really learn how not to offend a God by accident...

"W-Well -er- I thought that since you grew up as a prince that... maybe you wouldn't have learnt to cook?" he finished off with his voice going high at the end of the question/answer.

"Thor and I have had many expeditions and I was the one to add and stir the ingredients. That oaf couldn't cook for his life so I had to do it for him. He'd be long dead by now without me... Stupid oaf..." the young prince grumbled as he picked up a spoon and started to make what looked like a soup.

Shrugging his shoulders, Bruce turned to the kettle and poured himself and Loki a cup of herbal tea. He had a feeling the young God might like it...

 

\-----

 

 

In the labs of SHIELD was one Tony Stark, fingers fast and precise on his key board hollo-screen as he grumbled about the lab's lack of proper tech and horrible design layout. The scientists that had once filled the rest of the lab, long gone by now and discouraged to work with him when he blasted out AC/DC and pointed out faults that was obvious to him.

It was while Tony was deciphering the latest batch of HYDRA files that he found something truly shocking. He'd read through it and copied the files (obviously) before he legged it down the halls of SHIELD to where he knew Nick Fury's private office was.

He burst into the office with no regard to the old pirate's privacy so... he should really have been expecting a bullet to pass just millimetres from his head and to clip ear for his troubles.

"Ahh! Shit! What the fuck was that for?!" Tony yelled as he glared at the impassive pirate with an urge to get his repulsers and go for the ass.

All Fury did was shrug and put his hand gun back in it's holster, "What do you want, Stark?"

The billionaire threw his hands in the air as he screeched, "That's it?! No 'I'm sorry for shooting you, Stark'?!"

Raising his eye-brow at the giant man-baby before him, Fury gestured to the whole area around himself as he said with the most deadpanned expression that Tony had ever seen, "You're in a spy's base where anyone can get killed if they aren't carful enough. You come barging into my office and you expect me not to be alert that someone could have had plans to kill me?" there was silence as Tony just stared at Fury with a blank expression, "And you startled me." he finally admitted.

"Yeah, so I found something in the files." Tony said off-handedly as he wiped away a bit of blood at the side of his face. The reaction was near instantaneous as Fury sat up in his over priced chair and glared at Tony, want clear in his eyes as he regarded the smug billionaire.

"What do you want?"

"Oh, Nicky!" Tony said with mock offence, "So quick to assume that I'd want something from this." The Director of SHIELD stared at Tony with a dead-eyed expression for only a couple of seconds before the genius broke, "Okay! Fine! I want you to dress up as a ballerina for a day and let me video it."

"No."

"Fine. I want you to dress up as a cowboy for a day--"

"Stark." Fury said forcefully, indicating that he was going to kick him out if he didn't give him a serious answer.

The jokey mood seemed to vanish instantly as Tony's smile dropped, a hard look replaced the amused sparkle that seemed to constantly be there and his face became closed off and serious. Fury would forever deny having to look away and shifting uncomfortably as Tony's face became serious. It was very clear that the billionaire was no longer joking in any shape or form and the hard look in his eyes made the man look intimidating and powerful. The thing that unnerved Fury the most was the speed that Tony was able to change his attitude.

"I want to adopt Peter and allow him to join the Avengers any time he wants. After he's had enough training and preparation, of course. I don't want you to influence him into becoming one of your Agents. He's been through too much, he doesn't need you to be manipulating him into joining SHIELD and becoming an Asset at their beck and call." Tony stated with a hard look at the Director, who made sure to keep his face carefully blank.

There was a pause before the genius spoke again his voice, once again, leaving no room for argument, "I also want Loki to be officially be called an Avenger when the public finds out and I have evidence to prove Loki's innocence to the public. He will not be confined to the SHIELD base or cells. Thor's anger should be enough to discourage you from doing that but if that doesn't then hopefully my warning will." Tony took another breath before he continued, "Lastly, the Winter Soldier will also be the same conditions as Loki. Take it or leave it Fury but you can be sure as hell that I will get them out if you do take them."

The atmosphere had turned cold throughout the time Tony had been talking. Fury glared at the billionaire and Tony stared right back, seriousness and intimidation coming off of him in waves as he regarded Fury. The straight backed stance became almost instantly relaxed as Fury gave a single nod of his head.

"Great! Right. James Buchanan Barnes fell from the train in in a mission gone wrong in 1945 and was thought to be dead by the whole world and was mourned as a soldier lost in the war." Tony started.

"What's the point, Stark." Fury growled, obviously still sore that Tony got the best of him.

"The point is that no one knew he survived the fall." Tony answered matter-of-factly.

At this, Fury frowned in obvious confusion, "How'd he survive?"

"Captain America's first mission was saving thousands of men from behind enemy lines, including the most important one to him which was the 107th Infantry Regiment or, more specifically, James Buchanan Barnes. He was successful in his mission in saving his friend but James Barnes was found strapped to a chair where he'd been injected with something similar to the Super Soldier serum that Erskine had made." Fury perked up at this, "After he fell from the train, he was injured and close to dead. He was found by HYDRA. Zola completed his serum testing on Barnes but his injury of the fall was too severe. The man had lost his whole left arm due to frostbite and it being crushed in the fall. They didn't think he'd be able to operate very well with just one arm so they replaced it with a cybernetic one."

There was no clear expression on Fury's face for a while before he leaned forward and put his face in hands and looked back up again, "This doesn't explain why he's so young."

"They used something called 'The Chair'. It was used to brainwash him and suppress his memories. Due to his accelerated healing, his brain constantly worked to recover all the memories that they'd wiped from him and breaking through the Winter Soldier program. They referred to him only as the 'Winter Soldier' or the 'Asset' and they didn't treat him as a human, just as a weapon. He was programmed to have no emotions and to do exactly what his 'handlers' commanded him to for missions. After the deed was done, they'd put him in The Chair again before freezing him in a Cryonic Chamber as to preserve him."

The silence between them was damning as Tony waited for Fury's response and Fury tried to process the new information, "Shit..." at least he now knew why Stark wanted to keep the Winter Soldier, "Is the-- is Barnes safe in your tower?" Fury asked when he finally collected himself.

"Yeah, without The Chair to mess around with his head. He'll be able to break through the Winter Soldier program and recover most of his memories. It'll be hard for him but he needs to be around nice and friendly people who will give him contact when he wants and give him space when he wants. It'll take time and when he comes back from it, he wont be the same man as he was before; he's been through around 70 years of brainwashing, no ones going to come back from that as they were before..."

Once more, there was silence between them before Fury once again nodded, "Thank you, Stark. You can go now..."

Tony only nodded, no snarky comment would have been appropriate at that point and, despite popular belief, he knew when to be quiet. He put the deciphered file on the Director's desk before he went home to talk to the kid and the soldier that JARVIS had told him had practically emptied out his entire kitchen.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YES! Now onwards to the next one!!


	15. Five years in time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter! Enjoy the read!

Peter didn't feel the familiar twitch in his hand that possessed him to take a picture as he looked at the beautiful glow of the sun set as he entered the grave yard in the afternoon winter cold. People barely gave him a passing glance but when they did, they looked away fast to avert their eyes. Peter had on a baggy hoodie and his shirt underneath did nothing to cover up the bad scaring around his throat, it wasn't as noticeable as it used to be but it still set some people on edge; especially considering how young he was... To be honest, he stopped caring about his scars long ago and he grew to be proud of them; it didn't show him all the bad in his past anymore but how strong he was for surviving it (something Thor had mentioned once or twice).

With dry eyes and a straight face, Peter walked around the grave area that he knew all too well by now and he no longer had to search for what he was seeking anymore. A bunch of flowers hung loosely from his hand while in the other, he held a pair of red roses. His first stop was one that he had cried and screamed over for months at first, waking from nightmares and throwing up in the bathroom from the amount of guilt that always churned in his stomach just from thinking about it.

Once he was in front of the small headstone, he knelt down on one knee, face put in a carefully neutral expression. With steady hands, Peter reached out to rub off some of the moss that had started to grow on the top corner of it; a gentle caress to the weathered stone. He placed the bunch of flowers down with care beside him before he brought forth the two roses to rearrange just below her engraved name.

Taking a deep breath, Peter started to sign to her (it was basically his equivalent of talking to her), "Hey Gwen. I'm sorry I haven't visited in a while but I've been really busy these past few years and Tony's absolutely crazy in the lab. Everything's alright at home now and the team helped me out when another relative tried to claim my parents and Aunt May's stuff..." he trailed off for a bit, trying to force down he bubbling rage at the audacity of the greedy relatives that had never even been close to his family. He remembered that it had taken nearly the whole team to stop him from attacking his second cousin and his wife as they played off this stupid sob story of their precious memories with his parents.

Forcing down the hatred with another deep breath, he carried on, "...I know it's been years but I still miss you so much. Some days it hurts but... I think I've learned to live with it. Sam said that maybe in a couple of months I can stop going to those therapy sessions. I don't have them as much as I used to and I'm defiantly in a better place than I was all those years ago. I think if I stayed on as Spider-Man in that time, I'd have turned into a Super Villain long ago." Peter gave a small huff of laughter at the thought, it was really the only thing he could do to express real laughter... "I'm better now. In more ways than one, I'm a better man and hero..."

Peter stood up to his full height and took the bunch of flowers with him. His face was now pulled into a barely there smile and with one final, meaningful look, he walked away with a new destination in mind.

In his wandering, Peter couldn't help his mind drifting to the different changes in his life...

James Barnes or the Winter Soldier had stuck by his side for five years straight. He was different now, his smiles came easier and he showed affection more often in hugs and, on occasion, ruffling Peter's hair like he was some kind of child! (it only slightly helped that he also did it to Clint and Tony) James had hard therapy with Sam and Tony for the first few months but Tony had finally broken the Winter Soldier Programme as he stripped it away piece by piece; it helped that James was part way to breaking free of it when he'd ran away and fought against his handlers.

He also had a new arm, Tony having loudly protested about the 'piece of crap' that James wore, it took James a full two months before he couldn't handle the hostile mutterings from the genius whenever he saw the prosthetic arm. His arm now sported a white star on the shoulder and Peter couldn't deny the beauty of the tech, James had been extremely happy with it as well as he'd cooked Tony a dumpling stew that the genius claimed to make him see stars and threw his knife at Clint when the archer tried to snag a little bit.

After the programme had gone, James had been a great member of the Avengers and was introduced to the public as a lost war hero who had recently been saved from the enemy. The media practically ate it up and welcomed James with the utmost sympathy and open arms. The ex HYDRA Asset turned out to be a really great guy and was as deadly in the battle field as he was a friend. Peter often shuddered when he thought back to the time James literally lifted a HYDRA Agent off of the ground with his metal hand clamped around the guy's throat as he coolly demanded information on Tony's whereabouts as they had kidnapped the genius a day or so prior during a bad fight. The man had been so scary that even Natasha had given him a wary glance.

He had bonds with everyone in the group. He and Bruce shared a reputation of being very zen (Peter had often found them doing deep breathing exercises on the roof) and it was a very well known fact that he and Clint should not be put together when they are bored as their pranks where particularly disastrous... Peter was still finding traces of pink glitter in his room! He went on morning jogs with Steve and Sam and he often spared with them and Natasha as they often proved to be more challenging opponents. With Tony, they talked and worked on the different cars in the garage as they were both mechanics and Tony often found himself buying a battered old car and fixing it up with the Soldier. James also proved to be fiercely protective of Peter as he trained him an hour a day in fighting and took time out of his day to teach Peter some knew words and sometimes he walks with Peter to or from school.

Peter was happy that James was living as a human now, especially after what he'd been through for the past 70 years.

The more difficult to fit in was Loki. He had bad rep on Earth anyway and the Avengers were still wary of the mage and everything that he could do (Peter couldn't really see fault in that, Loki could do amazing things and no body would be overly willing to trust someone that had attempted to murder them). For a time, it had been only Peter that had bothered to befriend the young God as he held no grudge against him and he wasn't even part of the fight. The others weren't hostile towards him but more like they were wary or didn't want to acknowledge him in the room.

Loki had been kept out of the public's knowledge for only half a year before it all came out. The new knowledge to the general public went as well as one could expect... They had demanded his head on a silver platter and wanted him to rot for eternity in a cell under ground or, in some cases, buried alive. It wasn't until Tony started to leak the evidence of Loki's brainwashed state and actual age did people seem to settle a little bit and aim the minimal amount of sympathy the Chaos God's way; in other words, they became less blood thirsty.

The team only really accepted him when Tony found the God crying quietly in the common floor's kitchen, sitting in a growing puddle of milk he'd accidentally spilt. The rest of the team had gone to common floor for breakfast that morning to see Tony and Loki fast asleep on the sofa with Tony holding the young God to his chest protectively and Loki still sniffling with dried tear stains on his cheeks. After that, his relationship with the team and the public steadily grew stronger- especially when he started to train and fight as an Avenger.

A small smile would always spread on Peter's face when the God, one of his best friends, chatted away to him about this new spell or some prank he'd pulled on Thor that had the golden God confused and fumbling around. Peter was happy that Loki could talk to him so freely, the God needed someone to act normal around and let his guard down (Peter also suspected that it was because he couldn't physically speak to talk over the God or interrupt but Peter liked the other thought better...). 

His small smile morphed into a smirk when he thought back to Steve and Tony. Their relationship was revealed to the public a year after Peter started to live in the tower. They'd started to date a month after Peter had actually moved in and he was surprised that they were able to keep it a secret for that long. If Peter had to describe their relationship, it would be... crazy. It's also beautiful and cute like all relationships are but they were just a little bit eccentric. Peter couldn't say how many times he's seen the buff blond carrying his boyfriend over his head while the man was still in his wheel-y chair that Tony kept in his lab insisting that Tony needed to sleep. On any other given day, Peter would have laughed but at the time it was three in the morning and Peter couldn't help but shake his head at who those two could still be wide awake before he continued his shuffling down the hall to get a glass of water. Yep, crazy was a perfect word to describe them...

They got engaged around the second year of being a couple and by then, they had the whole world smitten over their relationship and everyone couldn't help but post online about what a perfect and cute couple they were. Seriously, it was scary! It was like Tony had brainwashed the public into liking them! They were really cute together at the start but when walk into the kitchen early in the morning and see them going at it on the kitchen counter then it's no longer cute; he and Clint, who had been with him at the tim, had stayed in the vents for hours trying to rid themselves of the image.

Two years after that (a total of four years since the start of their relationship), the pair had gotten married. Thor had wanted them to get married on Asgard as he wished for the All-Father to unite the great couple to show the Nines that they were beautiful together. Tony and Steve could only smile and agree with Thor as they knew it would most likely never happen.

It's weird the way things work sometimes...

It was another freak accident that the whole team, plus Peter made their first trip to Asgard. A woman that had once had a lovers spat with Thor named Amora appeared in the common living room at mid-day and started to completely ruin the whole place, trying to kill Thor. The fight hadn't lasted long as the Avengers always kept their weapons around and Tony and Sam could call their equipment. Finding that she was loosing, she had tried to escape using a portal but it must have been too powerful as they had got sucked in as well. They had all ended up in a place called Alfheim and had lost Amora so Thor called up to the sky and took them all to Asgard. At first the All-Father hadn't been happy, throwing a wobbly about how mortals weren't allowed to be in 'The Realm Eternal' but Thor's mum stepped in.

Frigga had been a very quiet woman and she seemed to glow with purity and power as she sat on the throne. Her eyes were warm and gentle when she looked at Thor and Loki, radiating love and pride as she listened to Thor trying to explain to his Father what had happened while Odin ranted and paced the room. It wasn't until she looked directly at Peter that he found he was staring and quickly looked away. Was it an act of treason to accidentally make eye contact with the Queen? He sure as hell hoped not...

To everyones surprise, the elegant and powerful woman stood up which silenced everyone in the room and made Peter go rigid as he stared at the floor like it was the most interesting thing since sliced bread.

"My Wife, what is the matter?" the All-Father had asked curiously but the woman only gave him a kind smile before she carried on.

Peter had an overwhelming urge to run for it and jump off of that bridge that he could see outside the great windows of the throne room when he realised that the Queen was coming over to him. The whole team must have realised that as well because Peter could actually feel them tensing up and try to edge closer to him; especially James, he looked like he wanted to pick Peter up and run away with him.

When the woman was in front of him, Peter felt like his lungs were about to give way as he hardly dared to breath with her gaze zeroed in on him. Gentle fingers that had the strength of a Goddess, carefully lifted his chin so that he looked into her eyes.

"Child," she said gently as if talking to a scared animal, "What is your name?"

At that moment, Peter felt his heart freeze in his chest. He couldn't answer! If he didn't answer, would he get his head chopped off or something?! Thor and Loki's all-speak couldn't translate sign language and he didn't have his note book and pen!

Silently, Peter had a complete mental break-down as the woman stared into his eyes expectantly and Odin started to look angry once again for Peter's disrespect for not answering the Queen of Asgard.

Thankfully, it ended when Thor stepped forward with an explanation, "Mother, Peter was injured some years ago and is unable to speak as a Midgardian would but he communicates with his hands which the all-speak cannot translate."

The Queen looked down at the pink scarring on his throat. He had never wanted to cover it up as badly as he had in that moment and then she said, "For one so young to have such battle scars is truly troubling. What of his family?"

"We are his family now." came the response from Tony as he looked at Peter with no small amount of love and pride which was mirrored by everyone else in his family.

Frigga smiled something beautiful and radiant as she stroked Peter's cheek before she turned to face Odin with a challenging glance and stated to the rest of the team, "The House of Odin grants you salvation for a week. I wish to know of my sons' allies and friends they has told me so much about and I have been missing someone to dote on for some time now."

And that is how the Avengers met Thor and Loki's parents. Peter was just glad that Frigga didn't try and adopt him! She basically dressed him up in fancy Asgardian clothes as she talked about Thor and Loki growing up and made him have tea with her. In their visit, they also met Thor's other immortal friends, Lady Sif and the Warriors Three. In Peter's opinion, they were loud and a little too violent but he found Sif to be a mothering type towards him and he often found himself sitting next to Hogun in companionable silence as they watched the odd group participate in drinking and sparing challenges.

When they were invited to Odin's Table for their last meal, the All-Father himself even commented on Tony and Steve's relationship saying he'd never seen a love bond so strong in a mortal being. After the week was up, they were honorary guests in the House of Odin and Frigga had somehow got Tony into agreeing to have his wedding in Asgard so she could see it.

All in all, it was a good idea and Thor had been extremely happy when Frigga announced it and Odin agreed and nobody could really say 'no' to Thor when he got all excited like that (no one wanted to deal with the golden retriever puppy-eyes) and it allowed the wedding to go uninterrupted like it did with Reed Richards' wedding. Even Peter had cringed when he read about it and he couldn't feel more sorry for Susan Storm for having to endure that. A month later, Tony and Steve had the wedding and Peter couldn't deny that it was a very beautiful ceremony (he thought it was a bonus that he got to keep his awesome Asgardian armour which was red and blue material with a dark, almost black, metal to line it- Peter was proud to say that he got a few requests and offers to dance that night). Peter often had a sneaking suspicion that Thor had somehow planned all this but he had no evidence and Thor would never admit to it.

They did another, more public wedding on Earth too to make it legal there as well. It wasn't as peaceful and pretty but it was still good. Tony was defiantly happy due to the fact that his and Steve's wedding was named 'Best Super Wedding of the Century' which surpassed Reed Richards' by far. Peter still had no idea why Tony had a hate for Richards...

To this day, Peter thinks that the most romanic thing he'd ever seen was when Steve and Tony decided to get their rings tattooed on their fingers as they had may close calls in losing the rings in fights and such that they couldn't really wear them for battle.

Slowly, Peter came out of his reminiscing as he reached his destination. He couldn't stop the sad little smile that flitted across his face as he place the bunch of flowers in-between the two graves. His Uncle Ben and his Aunt May hadn't been his real parents and they hadn't had the luxury and all the money in the world to get him the latest clothes or the newest school books on the market but they had been like his parents in so many ways. The pair had practically raised him.

Instead of kneeling down like he had done with Gwen, Peter sat down, cross-legged and stared at the engraved writing on the headstones. They both had several titles like 'Wife', 'Husband', 'Friend' and 'Carer'. It showed that they lived their life to the fullest, reaching an old age together before parting with the world. He stared as he looked back on his memories, in each one he was laughing, playing, joking and just generally being a kid.

His lips twitched at the new happy memories that had taken place in the last five years he's lived with the Avengers. With his flesh and blood family, everything fell apart and he felt like the carpet had been ripped from under his feet but now, he has a new family. He wasn't replacing at all, he considered them friends as he joked and trained with them, ate with them and lived with them. They were like an odd family; people who once had no one and so decided they'd have each other. Peter was happy to consider them family.

He'd changed a great deal since the time of his Aunt's and Gwen's death. He's been training for five years, learning new techniques and forms to take down the enemy with more sufficiency. He'd learned about analysing the situation which would help him to keep civilians safer. He was stronger, faster, had better tech support, better protection and he had back-up if he needed it. He'd worked with the Avengers, not in his suit, but he's trained with them so they knew his fighting style and he knew theirs'.

Over time, Peter's body had changed with his practice. His shoulders where broader and his arms were powerfully built as well as his legs. His constant access to food helped to fill him out as his metabolism was too fast to make a proper meal of anything his Aunt had made him before so he'd stayed as skinny as a rake. Although, Tony always complained that he was eating out the whole building, which he probably was. Hell, he'd eaten more than Thor once or twice!

Scars from almost two years of fighting had started to fade from their angry red and to white lines of raised skin. His hair was shorter, neat-ish and brushed to the side instead of sticking up in all directions like he'd had a bed-head the whole day. Over the years, Clint and James had been teaching him sign language until he was fluent and able to communicate with some people.

After Tony had announced to the world that he had 'adopted' Peter and the reason why he kidnapped him on the streets that day was because he'd 'grounded' Peter but the teen apparently had other ideas, the public had loved him. It was strange that after years of hate in the news papers, Peter was suddenly getting some love from them, especially when the Bugle started writing about how much they loved him. The love increased when they figured that Peter was Steve's kid as much as he was Tony's; 'Super Family' was something Peter would forever groan at. Everyone seemed to love the mute orphan kid that was now Tony's adopted son. The team had been afraid that Peter would become a potential target for kidnaping but it never happened and Director Fury chalked it up to be that the bad guys were too afraid to do anything to Peter.

Under SHIELD's order, Peter had to move schools, just as he'd predicted. Peter now went to a more private school that worked with his disability and he was able to graduate and move on to get a degree in biology and chemistry. Peter couldn't have been more happy, though he had to say that it was a bit embarrassing when the whole team swarmed him and hugged him afterwards which had drawn many eyes.

Peter was happy. He'd gotten a job in the biological department at Stark Industries. He had friends outside the Avengers and he and Pepper were partners in crime when the team were being overly resistant when it came to bed time. Honestly, the guys were practically nocturnal! ~~~~

A weak chuckle made it's way out of his throat at the thought.

With a smile smile playing at his lips, Peter signed to the amazing people before him that had raised him like their own, "I'm glad that you considered me your son, just know that I considered you my parents. Why wouldn't I? I had a childhood of happiness because of you and I would love to relive those moments again and again if I ever could. But, as it stands, I'm happy to be here, with the team and my job and to say that I lived past 18." his smile twitched at that. If Coulson hadn't have gone to his house, he very well could have died before the age of 18 let alone the legal drinking age of 21.

"I will never forget you and if I ever have kids I'd have to tell them all about their amazing grandparents that would have loved to spend every second of their time with them... I think I'm ready now. I'm ready to take on my responsibility; to use my power and do right by the world. I love you so much..." Peter's smile wobbled a little as he stood back up on his feet, "Bye."

Then he walked away. He'd been thinking about it for some time now and Director Fury had approved that he was an Avenger but he could also take care of the streets again if he wanted to.

He was coming back.

 

\-----

 

**Breaking News:**

" _On the streets of New York, I am proud to say that we've finally got back one of out beloved heroes. There have been steadily growing reports of a man that wears a red and blue suit that swoops in to save them and leaves the attackers tied up and left for the police._ " The reporter smile brightly, showing that she was truly excited about the newest development, " _I'm happy to say, that after five years of absence, Spider-Man is back on the streets and doing what he does best._ "

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to say thanks to everyone that's kept with this story since the beginning and that I've had a heck of a time writing this up for you guys.  
> I'm sad to be finishing this but I'm happy that I finally got to the end.  
> I have to say that this was only supposed to be a 12 chapter story but I kind of extended it to 15, I generally couldn't help it! It was like I subconsciously didn't want to pat with this story! T-T  
> Anyway! Thanks again for reading and for all the kudos and comments! Your the best!

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, okay! I'm sorry I did this and at the same time I'm not....  
> I do love Peter, I really do so... no hard feelings??  
> Update soon!!


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